Housing in cities of most developing countries pose a key development challenge
for city planners and managers. In Kenya reduced public investment in urban housing has
meant that the private sector must play a greater role in future housing development.
However, problems related to uncoordinated land tenure, poor land-use planning, high
interest rates, lack of infrastructure development and ineffective institutions have
adversely affected private sector involvement in the development of urban housing. As a
strategy to provide their own housing, individuals mainly in the middle income group
have opted to developing their own houses. This process has been referred to as
Individual Housing Development (IHD).
Using primary data from a field survey conducted in Nairobi, this study looks into
the issue of individual housing development. A situational analysis shows that land
tenure affects access to housing finance while lack of basic and support infrastructure has
also acted as a disincentive to potential developers. In a few areas welfare associations
have mobilized finances for infrastructure development and service provision.
Further empirical research is proposed to focus on the issue of access to housing
by the low income groups of people in Nairobi who form a majority of the population
currently. The main factors will be on improvement of land-use planning, access to
finance through better structured and innovative financing arrangements for housing and
infrastructure development. Institutional aspects of housing development and the role that
the public and public sector have to play for improved housing policy will be addressed.