Why Nairobians are living in structurally unsafe houses

The average Nairobi resident today lives in unhealthy and unsafe quarters due to a shortage of good houses.

Professionals in the built sector say graft, delayed contract documentation and approvals, and funding gaps are the key issues propelling irregularities in the construction sector.

These factors, especially graft, are also said to challenge the ease of doing business in the sector, which they term highly irregular and unprofessional.

County development control departments have been faulted as highly incapacitated, intentionally slow in executing statutory processes and corrupt.

The majority of buildings in Nairobi are residential amid rising demand. This has resulted in structurally unsafe and poorly built-up projects.

“More than 60 per cent of Nairobians are living in quarters which cannot be considered to be healthy or safe,” the President of the Architectural Association of Kenya George Ndege said during a built environment stakeholders' meeting with players in the banking and insurance sectors in Nairobi on Friday.

“But the fact that people are living in these bad houses doesn't mean that people appreciate bad houses.”

To safeguard investments in the sector, stakeholders said it is critical to protect the sources of funding.

This, they noted, will lock out unscrupulous developers, contractors, and builders masquerading as professionals, noting that the country is still lagging in terms of regularising the professional building sector.

Stakeholders also reiterated the need to future-proof projects to counter illegal transactions that may inhibit safety and ensure up-to-standard buildings in the sector.

With corruption in the sector at its highest level, lenders and insurers were urged to take every approval with a pinch of salt.

“The number of poor-quality buildings, which are still standing by the grace of God is crazy,” Ndege said.

“People are slowly dying and being non-productive living in these spaces just because they have no better alternative,” he added.

A report by the Global Building Performance Network shows that in Nairobi alone, 60 per cent of structures are prone to flood risks.

And according to Madison Group, as the built landscape changes, there still exist risks that are not well addressed by traditional insurance products.

Isaac Muguru, head of risk and compliance at Madison Group, said delays in regulatory approvals further put the built space at risk.