The National Housing Corporation (NHC) plans to deliver or facilitate the delivery of 110,000 housing units under its 2023–2027 strategic plan, building on more than 50,000 homes it has delivered since its establishment over seven decades ago.
The State agency is working with partners on sites across the country to support the government’s Affordable Housing Programme. The announcement comes as President William Ruto appointed John Washington Agutu as NHC’s acting Managing Director on Monday, November 9, 2026, making him one of five new heads of state corporations appointed following competitive recruitment by their respective boards.
Established in 1953 by the colonial government as the Central Housing Board, NHC now manages more than 3,000 housing units across the country.
“Currently, we are managing over 3,000 housing units across the country,” outgoing Managing Director David Mathu said. “Our rents are quite competitive compared with those in the private sector.”
The NHC board has committed an initial Sh1 billion to the Affordable Housing Programme, a key pillar of the government’s Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
The corporation also operates what Mathu described as the largest factory in East and Central Africa for the manufacture of expanded polystyrene (EPS) panels, which are used in walls and floor slabs to reduce construction costs.
NHC has played a role in several major housing projects. These include the government’s first affordable housing project at Ngara in Nairobi, launched in 2019 with 1,370 units, and the Mathare Boma Yangu Phase II project, where 4,800 units spread across 11 blocks are under construction.
In Homa Bay, the first affordable housing project outside Nairobi, launched by President Ruto in January 2023, has seen the completion and handover of its first 110 units.
The corporation has also invested in upgrading existing housing estates. At Park Road Estate in Nairobi, it constructed a one-million-litre underground water tank and rehabilitated three boreholes this year, measures residents say have reduced water shortages by up to 90 per cent.
“We actually own our homes, which we never thought would be possible in the city,” said the residents’ chairman, Joel Okebiro.
At its 987-house Langata estate, NHC has built a link road to Ngong Road, improved the water supply and is in the process of installing CCTV cameras.
Kenya needs about 200,000 new housing units annually, mainly in urban areas, where about 60 per cent of residents live in informal settlements or substandard homes.
Buyers of NHC homes can pay in full within 90 days or opt for a tenant purchase scheme with repayment periods ranging from five to 18 years.
The corporation also supports the Affordable Housing Board in administering its tenant purchase scheme and has seconded a senior manager to assist with allocations.
“The NHC has a very ethical housing allocation committee,” Mathu said.
