Time for solution to housing sector challenges

Notwithstanding the many housing sector challenges bordering on poor infrastructure base, long, costly and tortuous property registration process, lack of enabling laws, etc. Nigeria is, arguably, a huge real estate market.

Though there are reasonable efforts by public and private sector operators at providing adequate and decent accommodation for the citizenry in line with the National Housing Policy, these efforts are yet to yield the desired results on account of obvious challenges.

At the federal government level, there is a new scheme called the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) being implemented to address the housing needs of civil servants who find it difficult to climb the property ladder. The scheme is also aimed to bridge the housing deficit estimated at 17 million units.

FISH is based on the National Housing Policy, which also aims to provide affordable and decent housing for Nigerians and, according to Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, the new housing scheme has been put in place to drive the housing policy.

We align with the rest of Nigerians who believe that given Fashola’s antecedents while in office as governor of Lagos State, he is just the right candidate to push through progressive policies that will engender the needed solution.

We believe too that he understands the business of government in providing an enabling atmosphere for investors going by strategies being adopted in the implementation of the FISH scheme, which, he says, is also part of government’s multi-faceted approach to economic development.

The implementation of the new scheme now becomes more urgent bearing in mind that it is part of government’s efforts at creating economic activities aimed at empowering people all over the country.

At a time like this when income is dwindling, workers on site will be happy getting paid from contractors as that will enable them to take care of their families and patronise food vendors. It gladdens our heart that, according to the minister, the ministry is training artisans like carpenters and bricklayers to be relevant technically.

Again, it is interesting for us to note that many real estate industry players, especially the big names, share the housing provision dream of the minister for the country. At the moment, the country needs almost one million housing units delivered annually to fill its housing demand-supply gap.

Nigeria offers high returns on investment, especially in prime real estate, because of its fast growing populations, but it needs to encourage investors by creating the enabling environment. We agree with Fasunwon Deji, managing director, Propertymart Real Estate Investment Limited, who says policy makers need to ensure that access to long-term finance is guaranteed to enable investors.

Creating the enabling environment requires closing the gaps in government-run infrastructure to guarantee efficient urban development. Roads, electricity, security, etc are significant areas that the government needs to invest in to ensure that developers employ best practice residential and commercial property standards.

We deem it pertinent for government to promote favourable macroeconomic policies which will in turn encourage private sector investors to partner with it in providing low-cost mass housing. These policies, we believe, must result in low interest rates, stable exchange rates and low inflation to encourage investors to move into mass housing projects that could encourage low-income earners to move from rented to their own affordable mortgage-backed homes.

It is our hope that these policies, coupled with a broader economic growth stimulation that results in lifting more Nigerians above the poverty line, will make low-cost housing actually affordable for the low-income earner.

To make all these happen, we advise that processes for land acquisition, construction permits and property registration must be simplified and automated in line with global best practice.

As a country, we cannot continue with a culture that frustrates estate developers and discourages prospective home owners. A situation where prospective property owners have had to wait for years to secure necessary approvals and documentation is, to say the least, anti-growth and unproductive.

Like Deji, we want controversial legislations such as the 1978 Land Use Act and the 2012 National Housing Policy revisited to tackle aspects of their implementation that stifle the growth of the real estate sector.