About time for the rental housing conversation

Nairobi; Kenya: Buying a house has been left to the few who can afford it. This includes the wealthy with surplus cash, and the few middle class families with access to credit.

The rest opt to build their own homes incrementally or through alternative financing routes. Nearly everyone knows of someone who has built their house over several years, building bit by bit until the entire house is complete.

But even as the desire for home ownership grows, many more are renting and for a good number of these, home ownership is not on the horizon. Not for lack of trying or wanting to be homeowners, but it might just be out of their reach.

But now, stakeholders like Shelter Afrique are coming out to speak out in favour of renting. There are a lot of arguments to support such a move, among them being that necessary regulatory bodies have for too long been concerned with construction leaving tenants in limbo.

Bodies like the Rent Tribunal lives in the past and many a tenant is left to their own devices. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the rental housing conference to be hosted by Shelter Afrique next week.

What is not in doubt however, is that someone needs to look out for the multitude of Kenyans opting for or consigned to renting by what many would call market forces.