LagosHOMS raises hope on rent-to-own, produces 59 new home-owners
Having successfully created a total of 273 homeowners in the past six months with an additional 59 new ones produced from the seventh edition of its monthly draws held recently, the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMS) is poised for a giant leap towards ensuring that all residents of the state are beneficiaries of the scheme through a rent-to-own homeownership initiative.
Akinola Sagoe, LagosHOMS Executive Secretary, disclosed at the event that many of the winners of the homes have taken possession of their houses at various locations in the state with Shitta LagosHOMS in Surulere leading at 70 percent occupancy rate.
Sagoe explained that LagosHOMS was meant to change the face of mortgage system in Nigeria by providing mortgage at 9.5 percent interest rate and also creating wealth through equity building on the homes, pointing out that some of the homeowners were already enjoying 30-35 percent equity on their homes.
According to him, 139 people applied for nine schemes including Shogunro, Ilupeju, Igando, Mushin, Abijo Choice Garden, Olaitan Mustapha etc, noting that out of this number, 121 applicants were pre-qualified for the day’s draw that eventually produced the 59 new homeowners.
In his speech at the draw, Babatunde Fashola, the state governor, explained that once the rent-to-own initiative commenced, beneficiaries would pay rent for a period after which they would be invited to take an offer to buy the houses. During that period, the scheme would have saved some of their rent for them as their equity to pay for mortgage and from there they migrate to become mortgage holders.
“We have run this mortgage scheme for some time and we have seen that there are some people who cannot yet afford a mortgage but if we give them more time, we think they can. So, we are opening the door of accessibility further by starting this initiative which we think will bring them in to benefit”, the governor said.
Beyond this, the governor noted, the scheme has also achieved the objective of providing jobs for thousands of people, pointing out that government has expanded the scheme to more places as a result of which many more people have been given the opportunity to get jobs and earn a living.
“Today, we are constructing at 23 schemes simultaneously across the state. What does that translate to? We have 193 different construction companies working on those schemes and that means jobs for people. Those 193 companies have job quotas and in the process of implementing those quotas have provided jobs for 2,481 artisans, welders, iron benders etc”, he said.
In response to insinuations that the LagosHOMS was not affordable, Fashola noted that “affordability is not an isolated concept but an economic concept that is based on the price of sand, the cost of cement, the cost of iron rod, the cost of money and sustainability.
If you build a house for N10 and you sell it for N5, you will lose all your money and your capacity to do more will be gone. So we must build and sell with subsidy that keeps the project going for others”.
ODINAKA MBONU