Low-Cost Housing Projects in Kenya:
The government of Kenya Government identified low-cost housing as one of four top priorities and had a goal of adding 500,000 homes. The problem is that they rarely deal sufficiently with the affordability issue addition which makes them largely unsustainable. This study examined in detail the provision of low-cost housing within the LEED-ND rating system as a platform for having a rating system that focuses on sustainable low-cost housing. The study adopted a survey research design and made use of both qualitative and quantitative modes of investigation to examine the green building practice in Kenya.
The proposed park road ngara project entailed the construction of six blocks four of them housing one two and three-bedroom units, one block housing a parking silo, and another housing a kindergarten and other auxiliary facilities. The study’s target population comprises Park Road low-cost housing units of the big four agenda by the government. Analysis was undertaken to generate a descriptive picture of the data gathered. The study concludes that the process used to produce an implementation tool can be just as crucial to the success of the tool itself as the tool itself is to the success of the process.
The high cost of certification and the labor-intensive complexity of certifying development projects which frequently encompassed a large number of buildings and were finished over several years had two primary issues established the first being that green neighborhood assessment systems that are utilized frequently were called LEEDND. Secondly, the green neighborhood assessment was another popular technique that was used to assist in the decision-making process.
The results of the study indicate that LEED-ND is currently the standard that the industry has adopted as a benchmark for environmentally responsible neighborhood development everywhere in the world. The study recommendations are that LEED-ND should incorporate a post-occupancy evaluation to determine the level of satisfaction felt by residents and make the transition from a prescriptive-based system to a performance-based one.
Phrases such as green construction, high-performance construction, ecologically construction, and sustainable construction are all similar to one another and refer to the green building concept. Green building is the process of building structures and infrastructure using as few resources as possible to minimize harmful effects on the surroundings and enhance the quality of life for the local population. The housing industry has embraced impact assessment tools as part of its vocabulary. These tools are used to determine whether a low-cost housing project will be sustainable over the long term. The overwhelming majority of people think that ecologically responsible and cost-effective housing cannot coexist if on the other hand low-cost housing (Howe J C, 2010).
Sustainable affordability of houses for people with lower incomes makes green construction the best way to reach this goal because it protects the ecology and meets the demand for housing at the same time this is because green building satisfies both of these criteria projects (Oina, 2015). Simultaneously, their mixed-use communities that include appropriate access and exit amenities such as stores workspaces, and parks characterize green neighborhoods. The sustainable neighborhood assessment tools are the most up-to-date generation of impact assessment tools since the turn of the century. There has been an important increase in the number of people interested in ecologically responsible methods of community.
Improvement alongside this movement there has been a proliferation of tools for assessing neighborhood sustainability. This came about because of the realization that evaluating individual buildings is insufficient to accomplish sustainability goals. Sustainable neighborhoods can take many different shapes but they all have certain qualities in common (Adhiambo L, 2012). These neighborhoods are mixed-use relatively compact communities that have easy access to public transportation and offer a wide range of housing options, workplaces, park amenities, and retail and service establishments. They also have ample resources and operate effectively which helps to ensure that all citizens enjoy a high standard of living.