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For Sh1,000 you’ll get a one-bedroomed house


Are these the cheapest houses in the county?

A decent one bedroomed house in Nairobi whose monthly rent is just Sh1,000.

Yes, Sh1,000 for one bedroomed house with water, electricity and a sizable kitchen garden is possible in Embakasi Village.

Serene environment

People living in these houses located just behind the palatial Nyayo Estate have enjoyed the benefit of space and even though they claim that the houses are rundown due to poor maintenance, they still enjoy living in a serene environment, better than a house that goes for Sh3,000 in the congested Kibera Slums.

Robert Onyango says the rent was increased last year.

“We had been paying Sh625 a month for as long as I can remember, then in 2010, the rent shot to Sh710 and recently it went up to Sh1,000 a month,” Mr Onyango says.

He lives with his mother, brothers, sisters and children in two of the one-bedroomed houses where the family has built an extension with two bedrooms.

“Once you start living in Embakasi Village you never leave. The houses are inherited because they are cheap. Their condition is tolerable,” Onyango says.

Residents do not have to buy vegetables as they have kitchen gardens.

“I was born here and I already have a family and I am not planning on moving any time soon,” he says, adding that the village, which is near a police station is his second rural home.

Ward Manager, James Gacheru tells us the tenants never move.

Mr Gacheru admits the city council never renovated the houses.

“The tenant is responsible for the renovation because surely if you are living in a house where you pay such little rent, you must be in a position to renovate tit and keep it in good condition” he said.

Some tenants surrender the houses to different occupants but they have to part with a sum of money.