Expert to govt: Define housing affordability in terms of people

The government has been tasked on the need to define the housing affordability problem in the country in terms of people, not buildings.

According to a US-based affordable housing advocate and finance expert, Kunle Faleti, the incoming administration should define the problem on the number of people who have to live and work in Nigeria and are unable to find affordable housing.

Besides, he said the government should find out the gap between what the existing residents can afford and what housing actually costs.

“As you might expect, cities that have affordable housing generally rank low in economic vitality or quality of life – or both. It comes as no surprise that places with strong economies and high quality of life such as Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Kaduna and Owerri, are expensive places to live.

“Nigeria has fallen behind by about 17 million housing units over the past three decades as real estate developers and governments (federal, state and local) failed to keep up with historical building trends,” he said.

According to him, the housing gap has been so deep that it would take more than 20 years or more, to catch up.

Bemoaning the low- purchasing power of citizens, Faleti said that even if more housing units are built, “it won’t matter unless low-income earning Nigerians can afford them.

“It seems like an impossible situation. Whether or not the mission is impossible may ultimately be determined by how the problem is defined.

In the last 20 years, he said he’s yet to see the country’s leaders presenting a clear definition of the problem.

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