NAIROBI, Aug. 22 — Experts met in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, on Thursday to discuss practical strategies to expand access to affordable housing across Africa.
The fifth Kenya Affordable Housing Conference 2026, held under the theme “Scaling the Base: Unlocking Inclusive and Sustainable Housing Solutions,” brought together more than 200 delegates, including policymakers, developers, financiers, urban planners, and community leaders, to explore ways to bridge Africa’s housing deficit. Thierno Habib Hann, chief executive officer (CEO) of Shelter Afrique, the pan-African real estate finance institution, said the housing deficit in Africa is estimated at more than 56 million units.
“Rapid urbanization and population growth, as well as high construction costs, continue to widen this gap, pushing millions into informal settlements,” he said.
Hann said that to address the housing crisis and eliminate slums, Shelter Afrique advocates innovative financing solutions to grant low-income earners access to housing credit. Johnstone Oltetia, CEO of state-owned Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company, said collaboration between governments and private developers can help de-risk housing investments, leverage state-owned land, and deploy large-scale social housing programs. He noted that traditional housing finance models assume formal employment, reliable land records, and long-term funding conditions that do not reflect the realities of many African economies.
Elibariki Ndossi, CEO of Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company Limited, said the adoption of alternative building technologies is expected to cut building costs and shorten delivery times drastically. He added that the majority of Africa’s workforce earns a living in the informal economy, meaning that housing finance needs to be designed around how people actually earn, save, and live.
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