Housing crisis looms as 2,500 join Narok university college

A housing crisis is looming in Narok Town as more than 2,500 students prepare to join Narok University College next week.

With slow real estate growth coupled with a growing appetite for housing, a crisis is inevitable.

As the 2,500 fresh students join the institution, four other groups of continuing students will be in session and will be forced to seek the few available accommodation spaces near the institution.

The current bed capacity at the university both for men and women is 2,700, inclusive of the newly-completed modern women’s hostel.

According to the institutions Dean of Students Ambrose Koech, all the freshmen will be accommodated in the university.

He said continuing physically-challenged students and the “very needy” students will be given the first priority in the remaining space.

“Quite a large number of students will have no option but to opt for off-campus accommodation,”said Koech.

University’s Vice Chancellor Mary Walingo recently said the institution had gained popularity due to the quality of graduates it has produced over the years, thus the increase in the admission.

SWEET MELODY

The coming of the newly-admitted students is sweet melody to the real estate investors and traders around the main campus because there will booming business after the three-month dry spell occasioned by the recess.

Anthony Kigen of Manager Upstate Outlets, a real estate agency, told The Standard that the demand for houses had shot up and the landlords had increased rent as a result.

“There is an acute shortage of housing in Narok currently.The new admission is spurring the demand and currently we receive about 50 clients looking for rental houses as opposed to two months ago where most of the houses were empty,”Kigen said.

He said as a result, the real estate owners have taken advantage of the situation to increase rent by up to 20 per cent.

The real estate agent said a single room, which used to be let at Sh3,000, now goes for Sh4,000 while a bedsitter, which was Sh4,500 per month, is now going for Sh6,500.

A one-bedroomed house shot up from Sh8,000 to Sh10,000 per month.

In the 2016/2017 year, about 74,389 students are set to join public universities.