"They Never Asked Us": Eastleigh Residents Push Back Against New Zoning Plans

When Fatima Hassan heard about the City County's new zoning proposal for Eastleigh last month, her first instinct was to call her neighbours. The regulations would permit six-storey residential complexes in an area currently zoned for three-storey buildings—a move officials say will ease Nairobi's chronic housing shortage. Hassan, who has run a small supermarket on Fifth Avenue for 23 years, worries about what comes next.

"They published these plans in the newspapers, held a meeting at the County offices on Harambee Avenue, and called it consultation," Hassan said. "But they never came to speak with us. Not once."

Her frustration reflects a growing tension between Nairobi's ambitious urban development goals and the lived reality of residents in neighbourhoods targeted for intensification. The County's revised Integrated Development Plan, released in April, identifies Eastleigh, Kasarani, and parts of Kilimani for increased density to accommodate an estimated 200,000 new residents over the next decade. Housing costs in central Nairobi now exceed 2.5 million shillings for a modest two-bedroom apartment—pricing out middle-income earners entirely.

But community members from affected areas say they're bearing the costs of these decisions without meaningful input. At the Eastleigh Social Centre last week, residents raised alarm about water shortages during peak hours, the single matatu terminus on First Avenue struggling to handle current traffic, and property speculators already circling the neighbourhood with acquisition offers.

"Young families who've built their lives here are being pushed out before any infrastructure improvements arrive," said David Kipchoge, a teacher at Eastleigh Primary School. He noted that the catchment area already serves 890 students in overcrowded conditions, with no mention of new schools in the development plan.

The County's planning department maintains that increased density is essential to Nairobi's sustainability, and that public participation windows are clearly advertised. Yet critics argue the timelines are compressed and that information rarely reaches ordinary residents in accessible formats. Community-based organisations like the Nairobi Residents Alliance have begun demanding mandatory neighbourhood assemblies before major zoning changes are approved.

Hassan says she isn't opposed to growth. "But if you're changing the whole character of where we live, the least you can do is sit down and listen. Build the roads first. Bring more water. Then we talk about more buildings."

The County has scheduled further stakeholder meetings for July, though organisers haven't yet confirmed venues or dates in affected neighbourhoods.

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