Stakeholders canvass enabling environment for successful mass housing scheme

Stakeholders in the housing sector have identified the lack of an enabling environment as the major spanner in the wheels of successful mass housing schemes in the country.

The stakeholders, who spoke at the 2014 Real Estate Unite conference organised by 3Invest, are optimistic that if availed the right business environment such as an effective mortgage system, streamlined access to land titles, amongst others, the sector can drive itself to the peak, providing a wide array of house types for Nigerians including mass housing schemes.

Delivering the keynote address at the forum, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, who acknowledged the challenge, revealed that his administration has been making concrete efforts towards bridging the state’s widening housing disparity.

One of these efforts, highlighted by Fashola, includes an automated land approval system, which, he said, has visibly surged the number of approvals signed in recent time.

Fashola, who cited the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage System (HOMS) as the state’s renewed effort towards providing mass housing solutions, hinted that the scheme will start offering 300 homes monthly to the market once it attains such capacity, a leap from the current 200 homes offered monthly.

Oumar Diop, resident regional representative, Shelter Afrique, who spoke to BusinessDay at the sidelines of the conference, revealed that while his organisation remains committed to boosting the “affordable housing” supply chain in Nigeria, the lack of a favourable environment has capped such efforts