President William Ruto has announced that 4,000 graduates will be recruited into the newly launched Affordable Housing Internship Programme. This move is part of the government’s broader strategy to enhance professional capacity and expand employment opportunities under the Affordable Housing Programme.
Speaking during the official launch of the internship programme, President Ruto revealed that the number of consulting companies working on the housing initiative will increase from the current 39 to about 70. The decision aims to respond to the growing scale of housing projects and ensure timely delivery across the country.
“To cope with the rising demand for housing, my instruction to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Public Works, in collaboration with consortia, is to reorganise the Affordable Housing Programme to raise the number of people employed from 320,000 to 600,000,” Ruto said.
The Affordable Housing Internship Programme targets graduate professionals from technical colleges and universities, offering them hands-on experience in architecture, engineering, quantity surveying, and other built environment disciplines. The initiative will not only address youth unemployment but also build a skilled workforce to support Kenya’s ambitious housing agenda.
President Ruto also announced that the government will introduce a two-shift work system within the programme. This shift will effectively double the working hours and increase employment opportunities, particularly for young people eager to gain relevant industry experience.
By scaling up both human resource and technical capacity, the government hopes to fast-track the delivery of quality and affordable housing units across Kenya, while empowering the youth with critical skills and job placements.
The Affordable Housing Programme is a flagship project under the Kenya Kwanza administration’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, aiming to provide decent housing for all while tackling joblessness.
With the internship programme set to take in thousands of young graduates, the government reaffirms its commitment to integrating youth in nation-building and achieving inclusive growth through sustainable infrastructure development.
