President William Ruto on Tuesday, March 19 assented to the Affordable Housing Bill, at a ceremony held at State House Nairobi.

This now means that Kenyans will from this month continue paying the housing levy with a 1.5 per cent tax from both the employer and the employee.

This is after both the National Assembly and the Senate passed the Bill.

The Bill establishes a framework for the collection of the affordable housing levy and implementation of the affordable housing programmes.

It also establishes accountability mechanisms including a requirement that the Board shall prepare a five–year investment programme and an annual investment programme, which shall be approved by the Cabinet and shall consequently be tabled in Parliament.

The investment programmes shall guide the allocation of funds for the implementation of affordable housing programmes.

Further, the Bill defines the role of County Governments in affordable housing and provides for the establishment of County Affordable Housing Committees to advise governors on affordable housing programmes within their counties.

It also provides for the eligibility criteria and application procedure for an affordable housing unit.