{"id":116872,"date":"2025-06-20T12:03:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/06\/20\/raila-lauds-affordable-housing-program-urges-cabinet-to-focus-on-service-delivery\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T12:03:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:03:30","slug":"raila-lauds-affordable-housing-program-urges-cabinet-to-focus-on-service-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/raila-lauds-affordable-housing-program-urges-cabinet-to-focus-on-service-delivery\/","title":{"rendered":"Raila lauds Affordable Housing program, urges Cabinet to focus on service delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Jun 19 \u2013 Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on the government to approach affordable housing not merely as a shelter project, but as an integrated model for social and economic transformation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking during the 3rd Cabinet Retreat and Midterm Review in Kajiado, Odinga strongly endorsed the Affordable Housing Programme as a key policy capable of addressing multiple national challenges if implemented holistically.<\/p>\n

Odinga urged the Cabinet to adopt a model of urban development that links housing with employment, healthcare, education, and public amenities.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are addressing five fundamental issues here. You are addressing employment, shelter, education, health, and social amenities. So, it becomes an integrated development,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The ODM leader cited South Korea as a benchmark, recalling the country\u2019s transformation in the 1960s from conditions comparable to rural Kenya to a thriving industrial power.<\/p>\n

He noted that Korea\u2019s success stemmed from deliberate planning that included structured urban housing and coordinated economic zones lessons he believes are relevant to Kenya today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at Korea in the 60s, it was just like our rural Kisii. Then they decided deliberately that we need to bring people together. People live together. They came up with an idea of housing, but this housing is not just building shelter for people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Odinga warned that standalone housing units, without accompanying economic infrastructure, would fail to uplift residents or make housing projects financially viable.<\/p>\n

The Former Prime Minister cited Kibra as a case example arguing that unless people can work, trade, educate their children, and access health services near their homes, the vision of affordable housing will remain unfulfilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you build affordable houses in Kibra and leave it there to people, they will move in. But how are they going to pay the mortgage? You must put up workshops there\u2026 a market where they will sell their wares, a school where the children will go, a health center, and a social place for recreation,\u201d Odinga stated.<\/p>\n

He described such housing schemes as \u2018sustainable\u2019 only when they foster a complete ecosystem that supports livelihoods and well-being.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Odinga urged the government to pursue what is right for the country over what may appear popular in the short term, stating that national development must transcend political divisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter our disagreements, our visions and disappointments, we have to have our country first. Without a country to implement the ideas, they will remain mere wishes and defied dreams,\u201d he expressed.<\/p>\n

Reports by the Controller of Budget indicate that only a fraction of allocated funds have been utilized, raising questions over sustainability of the program.<\/p>\n

Despite these headwinds, the government insists that the Affordable Housing Programme remains central to its Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Jun 19 \u2013 Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on the government to approach affordable housing not merely as a shelter project, but as an integrated model for social and economic transformation. Speaking during the 3rd Cabinet Retreat and Midterm Review in Kajiado, Odinga strongly endorsed the Affordable Housing Programme as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}