Sessional Paper No. 02 of 2016 on National Slum Upgrading and Prevention Policy

Abstract

The development of slums in Kenya's urban areas is linked to the political and economic growth that has been largely skewed and not completely coordinated. As these cities and urban areas become known as centres of good living, their population growth rate in Kenya is approximated to be 6-7% per annum. This rapid growth coupled with limited resources, unemployment, high poverty levels, uncoordinated and unmatched initiatives has strained the government in provision of decent shelter and associated infrastructure leading to proliferation of slums and informal settlements. Most notable is the absence of social housing and that most of the low-income population coming to the urban areas have been left.to depend on the open market for housing in a context that is also characterized with precarious land tenure models. The mode of delivery by the private sector is skewed in favour of high and upper middle-income households neglecting the low-income groups. The neglected segment of urban population usually finds accommodationn in slums and informal settlements. There are many actors and stakeholders "involved in upgrading initiatives acting independently of each other. There is no legal and institutional framework to coordinate and guide the upgrading initiatives. It is in light of the above that the government through a widely consultative process formulated a National Slum Upgrading and Prevention Policy with the aim of producing a policy whose goal is to guide the country towards upgrading existing and preventing emergence of new slums in a coordinated and systematic manner. The overall objective of this policy is to promote, secure and protect dignified livelihoods of the poor living and working in slums by strategically integrating them into the social, political and economic framework in line with the Constitution.