During the 2^nd UN Habitat Assembly held in June 2023, one area of focus was Universal Access to affordable housing. There are however many factors that have made it difficult for many households both in the urban and rural areas to access adequate and affordable housing. This paper argues that housing affordability can be addressed by incorporating alternative building materials technologies (AMBTs). The main objective of this paper is to document information on the available alternative technologies that are used in the provision of housing. Secondly to monitor and evaluate the performance of these alternative building materials and technologies. Thirdly attempt to document maintenance guidelines for the materials that are commonly used.

Findings: Affordability of housing for the low-income has been a concern that has been addressed in policy and by different political administrations for many years. It is now clear from research that though income and price of finished houses were the main factors identified as major challenges earlier, the cost of material has always been a major cause of concern. Often what are called temporary materials like timber and soil blocks were not approved as permanent construction materials in Urban areas in Kenya.

The alternative building materials identified include the following, compressed stabilized earth blocks, interlocking bricks, rammed earth, straw bales – mainly from wheat traditional mud houses, fly ash bricks, rice husk ash, compressed Agricultural fiber –made from agricultural waste e.g., wheat and rice straw and recycled plastic products.

Practical Implications: The paper gives several recommendations on how governments can successfully deliver affordable housing. These include having stakeholders participate in the design and construction stage and use as much of the materials available on site. Appropriate building materials will reduce costs if the following is done: If most materials used are available on site. In some cases, costs are lowered if the owner builds most of the structure himself/herself (because most of these are labour intensive). Other ways to reduce the cost is mass production and the need to do monitoring and evaluation of the performance of AMBTs is done. Finally, maintenance manuals are prepared and given to owners and users.