The government has missed its target for attracting buyers to the affordable housing programme, with official records showing a low turnout on the Boma Yangu platform by June 2025.
While officials previously claimed that close to a million Kenyans had registered to save for houses, the latest disclosures reveal a much smaller number, highlighting challenges in the uptake of the State’s housing initiative.
Data from the State Department for Housing and Urban Development shows that only 292,326 Kenyans had signed up on Boma Yangu by the end of June, far below the government’s target of 565,800. This reflects a lukewarm response to President William Ruto’s flagship housing project, intended to provide affordable homes across the country.
“Target not achieved. Fewer people than anticipated registered on Boma Yangu,” the department said in its presentation on “the number of cumulative potential home owners registered on Boma Yangu.” The figure represents just 0.5 percent of the nation’s 53.3 million people, based on population estimates by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics for 2025.
The budget proposals for the fiscal year beginning July 2027, which reviewed performance over the past three years, show a stark contrast with claims by public officials that more than 500,000 people were saving for housing.
The Boma Yangu website currently shows 894,859 registered users, underscoring discrepancies between official records and public-facing data.
The same records show that only 2,075 houses were completed under the Affordable Housing Programme from July 2022 to June 2025. The State department attributed the delays to ongoing court cases that stalled construction, as well as the absence of a law to allow Housing Levy collections to fund housing projects.
“The AHP completed 2,075 housing units across various counties, including 605 in Bondeni, 1,080 in Mukuru, and several institutional and prison units, while ongoing projects include 62,123 affordable on average of 32 percent, 44,803 social on average of 17 percent, and 11,527 institutional housing units at 22 percent completion level,” the department said.
Documents show that targets for 217,654 affordable units in 2022-23 and 2024-25 were not met due to spending restrictions before the regulations were approved. The department also fell short on the planned construction of 80,909 social housing units.
“Target not achieved due to court litigations, which stopped the construction. However, 1,080 units are complete, 44,803 units are ongoing at an average of 17 percent completion,” the department noted.
Meanwhile, the State department confirmed that Boma Yangu registrations reached 1,020,861 as of Saturday, with cumulative savings of Sh3.84 billion. Over three years to June 2025, the government spent Sh81.4 billion on affordable housing construction. The programme has a total budget of Sh627 billion for the period 2023-2032, but early spending was slowed due to delayed Affordable Housing Regulations, which were only passed last year.
Despite the low uptake, occupancy of completed houses has been strong, with all units in Homa Bay and Mukuru sold, while 80 percent of the 605 houses in Bondeni, Nakuru, are occupied. The State aims to deliver 500,000 housing units across affordable, social, institutional, and student housing categories by 2029.
