Kinshasa - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your housing like? What are typical housing sizes, locations, and commute times for expatriates?
Housing is very mixed, everything from apartments to stand alone houses, some with pools, others without. Make sure you know what you want (pool, number of bedrooms, proximity to embassy, commute time...) so you can tell the housing board before arrival. They try their best to accommodate requests, but it all comes down to what's available. Commute time is the biggest issue here and on bad days can take a couple hours each way. The houses north of 30 Juin (main road through Kinshasa) generally have double commute times as houses south. Go on youtube and look at videos of driving in Kinshasa, it is really bad, though not the worst we've seen in Africa. - May 2024
The Embassy works very hard trying to find decent housing, however in a 33 million people city, competing with the UN, the EU, and all the NGOs on earth it is a miracle decent housing can be found. Housing in divided in two or three big groups. The first one is housing options near-by the Embassy, USAID and JAO (an Embassy's Annex). These homes or apartments are near by the River Congo. These options are ideal for single folks, specially the apartments. The other group are houses distributed near-by Av 30 Juin, the Golf Club and Hyper Psaro (the best stocked store in town). It ranges from newer apartments to old-big homes. Some have pools, others don't. The last group is located near-by Ave De L'OUA. These are residential compounds, one is GB the other one is Belle-Vue. Homes at GB are single story, big homes with individual pools. Noise can be bad there depending how close your house is to Shopritte's parking lot (for some unknown reason, they play loud music all day long, from Monday to Sunday). The other residential compound is Belle-Vue. They have 3 bedroom apartments or 4 bedroom Villas. These units were built in the early 90s, they are okay, but need constant maintenance. Mostly mission's families live here as it is closer to the kids' school, TASOK. There are a lot of humidity problems here. Families with folks suffering respiratory ailments should stay clear of Kinshasa. The air quality here is bad, specially during the dry season. People burn their garbage at night. Our air purifiers run non-stop 24/7. Driving here is dangerous. Drivers don't follow the rules of the road, the policemen controlling traffic don't do their job, taxis and motorcycle taxis do whatever they want. Your car will get damaged here. Once it took us one hour to advance one quarter of a mile after we left home. It took us another day two hours to return home from work. The kids had spent sometimes one hour from school to home, that is to cover one mile and a half. If you like listening to audio books in your car, or working from your car, hire a driver and this may be a place for you. You will spend most of your tour stuck in traffic. It is horrible. Once, from our house it took us four hours and forty five minutes to the airport. Another time, it took us one hour and fifteen minutes. - Aug 2022
I live in an apartment close to the River Loop. It is spacious, modern (compared to some of the standalone houses or older buildings in the area), and has a nice balcony. We have a small building pool on the ground floor. On a good day, it's a ten minute drive to the Embassy. On a bad day, it can take an hour. In general, housing here is good but not great. Satisfaction largely depends on someone's attitude. I think the greatest determinant of satisfaction comes down to where you want your social center to be. Singles and couples without kids are more often placed near the downtown areas and River Loop, and families with kids are more often placed in a gated community in a more suburban neighborhood where there are lots of other families with kids. - May 2022
Housing is a mixed bag, but most have pools and are near the key amenities. Most apartment complexes have great landlords who make sure the internet and DSTV are part of the deal and usually there is also a gym. The market is super tight and the UN grabs things before anyone else can, so there are a few less-than-great residences in the housing pool. - Aug 2019
U.S Embassy housing is a mix of apartments, homes on small compounds, and detached houses. I don't think anything is smaller than three bedrooms, and some of the houses and apartments are large and very nice. Construction quality varies, but usually leaves something to be desired. Commute times to the embassy range from 10-30 minutes, depending on traffic. It generally takes longer to get home in afternoon traffic than it does to get to work in the morning. - Apr 2019
It really varies. Ranges from high rise apartment with pretty nice fixtures, mostly 2-3+ bedrooms, and pool to stand-alone houses with yard space and (mostly) with pool. Most of the apartment buildings are newer and the housing is older but bigger. Commute on average is 20-30 minutes in the morning, 30-45 minutes at the end of the day depending on traffic. - Dec 2017
Housing is OK, the building is dark without much natural light. Power issues make it hard on electronics but the space is large and comfortable. - Dec 2017
Housing is hit or miss. There are few beautiful, charming homes in the housing pool. Many are in small compounds. Some have private yards and a small pool. Most folks are housed in apartments, most with amenities like rooftop lounge or pool, and some with a small gym.
Traffic is ridiculous here and therefore commute times are long even for short distances. I recommend using the shuttle to and from work and using the 30-60 mins each way to read, catch up on emails via BB, knit--virtually anything that does not cause you stress! Living here saps your resiliency, adding unnecessary stress is unwise. Carpool with friends for errands like grocery shopping because company is always nice and it feels more like an outing versus drudgery. Learn the city and practice your driving routes on Sundays! - Mar 2017
Housing varies dramatically in quality, but is more than adequate. I am in a spacious, but older, apartment building in a quieter part of Gombe. Others have more modern apartments in busier parts of the city or stand alone houses. Most apartment buildings have pools but not gyms. Commute times vary widely depending on what neighborhood you are in--15 minutes to 2 hours. - Jan 2017
Our house was not huge but it was well designed, airy, and full of natural light and closets. Nice kitchen, and we had a wonderful pool. Our yard was nice, too, but the mosquitoes were out of control, so the only way to enjoy it was by being submersed in the pool. - Sep 2016
We live in a large (4/4) single family home in a compound of 8 houses all occupied by USG employees. Each house has a pool and we have a public courtyard where the many (many) children in the compound are usually found playing. At the right time of morning the commute from here to the US Embassy is about 15-20 minutes, but at the wrong time of day traffic can be bad enough that the same trip can take 1-2 hours. There are lots of apartments, usually in newer buildings - most are quite large and many are located closer to the embassy than we are. There are a few other single family homes, but probably the majority of people are in apartments. - Apr 2016
Embassy housing is comfortable and spacious with most homes/apartments either having a personal pool or access to one on the compound. Single family homes within the Gombe district are getting more difficult to find so incoming families may be faced with the choice of a (spacious) apartment closer in or a free-standing probably very large and luxurious house with garden and pool a distance away. Traffic is usually at its worst mid-day but poor road conditions, broken-down vehicles, and aggressive driving mean roads can be clogged at any time. Most commute times are between 15-30 minutes. The newer housing by the international school (TASOK) could take an hour or more. - Jan 2014
Families generally get a large house with a yard and often a pool. Singles and couples generally get apartments or duplexes, though some have houses. The shortest commutes are around 10 minutes and the longest is maybe 40, but it really depends on the time of day and traffic. The roadwork mentioned in previous reports is mostly over, so traffic downtown is a bit better. - Nov 2012
Very good housing. - May 2012
Usually singles/couples w/o children are in apartments. There are also stand-alone houses and housing compounds with both houses and apartments. Traffic can be bad and congested, our commute was 10 minutes without traffic, 30 + min with traffic. - Feb 2012
Houses and apartments. Not the best of quality and very pricey. - Nov 2011
Very expensive and not always of the best quality. We are lucky to live on a very nice family oriented compound with all the facilities you need, and more. - Aug 2011
There is seems to be a continual shortage. Mission is hiring more people than it has housing for, what housing that is available is very expensive. There is severe competition among NGOs, the various Missions and others for suitable housing. That being said, the housing is better than some posts. (or so I have been told) Large apartments or houses (3 bedrooms are common), pools, large houses with yards, security walls. Depending on your job and family needs, housing will be assigned. If you are in a stand alone house, you are responsible for lawn/yard/pool care. Others have a shared responsibility and some, the care is provided(apt buildings). All in all the housing is quite decent – one of the benefits of a hardship post. Commute time varies depending on where you live and the time of day. If there is any construction, accidents, holidays all have an effect. - Jan 2011
Apartments, flats, duplexes, and free-standing houses. Commutes can be brief (5 mins) or long (1 hour) depending on construction patterns. Depending on your level of bravery, you could bicycle, but it is not without risks from the road itself and the drivers. - Oct 2010
Apartments and houses; most are within a 15-minute drive to the Chancery. - Jan 2009
