President William Ruto now says that all persons who were displaced from riparian lands due to floods will be the first to be allocated Social Housing units.
Speaking in Njiru on Friday, Ruto said the construction of these houses will begin once the Nairobi Rivers regeneration project is complete.
He said the government already has the names of all persons displaced during the heavy floods that hit the country last year.
“All persons who were displaced from riparian land will be the first to be given the Social Housing homes that we are now constructing. We have names of each and everyone who was displaced and where they were displaced from because of floods,” Ruto said.
He went on to say that at least 50,000 social housing units will be built on these spaces once the new sewer line is set up and the river cleaned.
“On the Nairobi river regeneration, we want Nairobi River to stop being a sewage by removing solid waste, constructing a 60-kilometre sewer line and making sure we have expanded the river by deepening it and constructing another 50,000 houses we have started building.”
Ruto has been on a five-day development tour of Nairobi City County, where he commissioned various projects, in addition to inspecting those that are ongoing.
The development tours are part of the President’s initiatives to further devolve development to the interior parts of Kenya.
In May 2024, the Interior Ministry then led by Kithure Kindiki (now Deputy President) announced that 40,000 households had voluntarily vacated the riparian reserves of Nairobi, Mathare and Ngong Rivers and other mini tributaries.
Kindiki said the households comprised 181,000 persons.
"The government notes with appreciation the cooperation of the public on the ongoing program to evacuate persons whose presence on riparian corridors within the Nairobi Rivers Ecosystem poses grave danger to their lives, as witnessed during the torrential flooding last month," he said.
The CS said the state had already honoured the pledge to support each household with Sh10,000 to support them settle on alternative rental premises.
Kindiki noted that the families would be given priority in
the Affordable Housing Programme’s social housing units once ready.
