Stakeholders canvass new approaches to affordable housing delivery

Built environment stakeholders who gathered recently at a lecture on affordable housing organised by the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) have canvassed a new approach to what seems an intractable problem of affordable housing delivery in Nigeria.

The stakeholders, which comprised real estate professionals, university lecturers, building material manufacturers, the states and Federal Government, among others, identified land, funding, building materials/process, etc, as major obstacles to affordable housing.

Toyin Gbede, director, marketing and sales, Nigerite, contended that all stakeholders must come together to determine what should be best collective approach to solving the problem, insisting that housing delivery must be seen as a process that required individual contributions aimed at achieving a common goal.

Gbede said the conventional method of housing delivery would never achieve much even if other variables were taken care of, recommending what he called dry construction method which, he explained, had speed and was cost-effective in the long run.

Timothy Nubi, a professor of Estate Management and Environmental Studies at the University of Lagos, agreed with Gbede on concerted efforts by professionals, adding however that those who need affordable housing should form co-operatives in order to solve funding problems.

“As individuals, this class of people cannot build their own houses with their level of income, but as co-operatives, they can pool resources to buy land, engage professionals to design their houses, buy materials and enjoy the economy of scale in all they want to do to build their houses,” he said.

Ama Pepple, minister of lands, housing and urban development, had disclosed in her keynote address at the lecture that the Federal Government had plans to strengthen and expand primary mortgage institutions (PMIs) and the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme, and make available guarantees, where necessary, to attract offshore funding and enhance participation of the private and public sectors in housing finance.

The minister, who was represented at the lecture by Temitope Onaikan, controller, Federal Ministry of Housing, Lagos, added that government had also put measures in place to establish a viable secondary mortgage market to enable institutions such as the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Pension Fund Administrators, insurance companies and other investors to trade mortgage in the capital market.

Earlier in his welcome address, Olayemi Shonubi, chairman, NIQS Lagos chapter, had lamented that in spite of various government efforts at addressing the affordable housing problem, the country was still unable to provide for the housing needs of the citizens.