Nairobi, July 30 -- Housing is often discussed as a matter of walls, roofs and finishing. That is too narrow a view. In economic terms, housing is one of the clearest tests of whether a country is translating growth into dignity, security and opportunity for its citizens.

Kenya's housing challenge is not abstract. An annual deficit of about 200,000 units, against the backdrop of rapid urbanisation, has left millions of households in overcrowded and unsafe conditions. The goal of delivering 277,000 affordable housing units currently under construction, with 45,000 targeted by year-end, is therefore not merely ambitious, it is necessary.

But scale alone does not solve a structural problem. Affordable housing can neither be built on hope, ...