Ruto: Kenyans to Contribute Three Percent of Their Salaries to Housing Fund

President Ruto has announced plans to enhance the Housing Fund to allow more Kenyans to own homes.

Ruto said the government wants all employers to contribute 3% of their income towards the Housing Fund to kick start their journey of owning a house.

Speaking at a church service at Friends Church (Quakers) in Donholm, Nairobi County, on Sunday, the president said the deductions will help low-income earners to take up the units offered by the affordable housing programme.

“Every employee who contributes three percent, their employer will also contribute three percent to the Housing kitty,” he explained.

Without mentioning when the deductions will take effect, Ruto indicated that the government will be the first to implement the Housing Fund plan for over 700,000 civil servants.

"As a government, we will be at the forefront in implementing this. For all employees of the government - approximately 700,000 - we will be saving 3 percent for them after they have made their own 3 percent contribution," he added.

Ruto assured Kenyans that the government will increase the number of affordable housing units to ensure they live in decent homes.

"In the next two weeks, I will be in Makongeni to start construction of an extra 30,000 units. We have a plan to be constructing 100,000 affordable houses every year in Nairobi," he said.

Ruto praised the government’s move to increase members’ contributions to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to 6% of their salaries, saying it has helped the country increase its savings. This, he said, will help the country to manage its foreign debt by borrowing locally.

“In just two months we have doubled the amount of money that we are saving as a country. I want to promise you that we will create a big kitty that we will not have to borrow externally," he said.