Effect of Inter-Governmental Relations on Housing Provision in Informal Settlements in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

Intergovernmental relations enhance interdependency through reciprocal respect and consultation between national and county governments for effective service delivery such as housing. To that end, it was therefore imperative to examine the implications of intergovernmental relations on provision of housing in the informal settlements in Nairobi City County. This was achieved through striving to: examine the effect of intergovernmental relations on allocation of land; on housing upgrading and; investigate the effect of intergovernmental relations on financing of housing in informal settlements. The study was grounded on the structural functional theory. A descriptive research design was adopted that targeted 222 population comprising state officers involved in housing provision in major informal settlements located in Kibera, Huruma, Korogocho, Dandora, Mathare and Mukuru. These included County Executive Members and their assistants, Members of National Assembly, the Senator, Woman Representative, Members of County Assembly, sub-county administrators and ward administrators as well as the director at the Ministry of Devolution coordinating intergovernmental relations. Through a questionnaire requiring free-form responses as well as responses restricted to specified options, primary data was collected the purposively sampled size of 222 participants. Data from secondary source include official records, published studies, and books among others. Every effort was made to provide informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, the possibility of harm, as well as the disclosure of results. The design, development, organisation, analysis, preservation (recorded), sharing (available), and reuse of research data were all ensured to meet the necessary research standards, including quality, among others. SPSS was utilized in analyzing data quantitatively and qualitatively respectively. The study established that low inter-governmental consultation created rivalry, role duplicity, confusion, which undermined land titling and transfer resulting into land unavailability, tenure issues, congestion and informal settlement proliferation. On housing upgrading, few houses were built, unresolved urban planning, regulatory framework, unmet social amenities and continued social evils due to poor project planning, supervision and resource management attributed to low consensus. Concerning house financing, scanty intergovernmental consultation bred dysfunctionality causing projects abandoned, stalled and vandalized resulting to increased project cost, loss of invested resources, lost beneficiaries’ contribution, increased poverty, lost donor confidence and funding. The study recommends a policy direction for enhancing consultation between the two governments for effective land allocation for housing by addressing land availability, tenure issues, congestion in order to check informal settlement proliferation. Equally, boosted consensus should enhance house upgrading planning, supervision and resource management to build more houses built, urban planning, regulatory framework, social amenities and mitigate social evils. Finally, improved consultation will streamline and increase housing financing through fast tracking comprehensive Slums Upgrading Policy to enhance low-income credit accessibility, county government borrowing and prudent housing financial utilization as well as enhancing housing beneficiary contribution.