Rethink housing policies after Huruma tragedy

There is an old adage that you should never waste a crisis. Crises provide opportunities for change. They are a chance to hit the reset button and correct course for the better. Unfortunately, in Kenya our leaders have a knack for wasting one crisis after another. Instead of rising to the occasion and doing the right thing, our leaders typically respond to crises by digging in and playing the blame game, or completely ignoring an ongoing crisis.

The latest crisis involves low-income housing in Nairobi and the state of regulation of the construction sector. The Huruma Tragedy is but a symptom of an endemic problem in much of Nairobi. The vast majority of Nairobians – upwards of 70 per cent – live in informal settlements in abhorrent, dehumanising conditions. Whole families share single rooms. In many instances entire floors share a single toilet and bathroom. Many units lack reliable water and power supply. And when it rains the streets in most Nairobi neighbourhoods become impassable. And God forbid, when an emergency situation arises, the layout of these neighbourhoods make it impossible for emergency crews to reach the affected. Several fire tragedies and collapsed buildings have repeatedly reminded us of this sorry state of affairs.

And yet we never learn. After Huruma we are about to go on like nothing happened. Dozens of people died. Dozens more will have their lives changed forever. This was a preventable tragedy, if only our policymakers and regulators did their job. This ought to be a wake up call to the people who run Nairobi County. We can rid Nairobi of slums, if we really want to. We can provide decent housing for low-income households in all our towns and cities. Instead, all we ever engage in are slum-upgrading projects that involve little more than building a few toilets and digging mitaro (and bags of looted money). We seem to have accepted, as normal, the fact that millions of our citizens live in constant danger of death from faulty buildings, water borne diseases, crime, and all manner of accidents.

Why are we like this? Part of the problem is our collective acceptance of the false distinction between formal and informal life in our towns and cities. The national and local governments seem to only care about formal life. Informal life – jua kali stalls, hawkers, housing in the “informal settlements” – only get attention when the state wants to extract bribes or when something bad happens. This needs to change. Low-income households are in dire need of attention from the state. They need deliberate social policies – covering housing, education, healthcare, skills training, et cetera – that will not only ameliorate their current situations, but also give them and their children a chance at a better life tomorrow.

How might we do this? First, we need to fundamentally rethink how we do housing policy in Nairobi and urban areas (and rural areas as well). What should decent housing for a Kenyan family look like? What proportion of Kenyan households meet that standard? How can we provide decent affordable housing to working families?

Second we need to desegregate the housing market in Nairobi. Research shows that a high concentration of low-income households diminishes opportunities for upward mobility among the poor. In other words, that poor people are more likely to rise out of poverty and experience higher levels of inter-generation mobility when they live close to and interact with higher income groups. This means we should provide affordable housing for working families in traditionally middle class areas. Doing the above ought to be a no brainer. Not only would it be politically popular, but would also generate construction jobs. If only we had politicians that are willing to think beyond digging mitaro (trenches).