Our Partners

The National Cooperative Housing Union supports an effort to provide affordable and adequate housing in Kenya. Furthermore, NACHU aims to promote equality of all people and a respect for the environment in it's work. Through mainstreaming these strategic focus issues, NACHU hopes to educate its members and partners on the importance of human rights and empower them to spread these messages.

Due to the recent increase in population growth and urbanization, the Kenyan housing sector has been unable to provide sufficient affordable housing to its residents. The shortage of both land and housing is a result of a complicated land tenure history, inefficient regulatory frameworks, and under-resourced projects to improve housing. Those most affected by the lack of housing are primarily from lower income groups. 

In September 2000 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, 189 UN member states adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, a commitment to foster new global partnerships in order to reduce poverty and achieve 8 specific targets by 2015. These are the Millennium Development Goals.

The team at NACHU has joined the effort to achieve the 8 MDGs set out by the United Nations. Specific loan products for women and youth ensure that they are empowered to achieve their goals of home and land ownership. Other loans are available for education fees and business expansion to assist members in combating poverty. NACHU projects have directly helped with the success of Target 7.D as many of the organization's members from informal settlements have been able to improve their homes or businesses, or even move into their own homes outside the slums. 

Kenya lacks sound legislation on housing and cooperative housing rights and policies. Furthermore, prohibitive interest rates on bank loans for development partnered with consistently poor infrastructure (water, electricity and security) create obstacles for gaining affordable and secure housing.

In Kenya, disparities in access to resources and services create different challenges to attain adequate housing for men and women. On average, women have lower levels of education and literacy, lower paying jobs and unequal opportunities for employment. Consequently, women are significantly under-represented in leadership and decision-making positions at all levels.

Youth aged 15 to 30 years make up 32% of Kenya’s population, approximately 9.1 million people. This group is 60% of employable Kenyans yet only 25% are employed and many of those jobs do not match their qualifications and career aspirations. Many youth find it difficult to access high school and post-secondary education due to the high costs. In addition, idleness due to unemployment can often lead to risk-taking and criminal activity. Youth make up a large proportion of the people residing in informal settlements as they lack access to decent housing.

Due to the rapid urbanization in Kenya, the building of new houses, the high density of people in small settlements, and the overuse of natural resources continue to negatively impact the environment. In 2007 the urban population of Kenya was estimated at 9 million while the projection for 2027 is 31.7 million. This rapid increase can result in poor living conditions and irreparable environmental degradation.

Individuals both infected and affected by HIV and AIDS can have difficulty acquiring adequate housing, earning an income or caring for a family without the appropriate support and information. People caring for a sick family member or who are widowed by the disease often cannot make up for the loss of income, cannot complete their household and family responsibilities and become isolated from their community due to stigma.