The Federal Government has announced plans to deliver 100,000 social housing units for vulnerable groups across all 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa revealed this at the 4th Edition of the Real Estate Future Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
He emphasised that the initiative would be achieved through the implementation of a Comprehensive Nationwide Social Housing Delivery Programme, as outlined in a statement published on the ministry’s website on Thursday.
He noted that the government is working to implement a Comprehensive Nationwide Social Housing Delivery Programme targeting vulnerable groups, aiming to provide 100,000 social housing units across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas,” the statement read in part.
Meanwhile, housing expert, Femi Oyedele, pointed out that locating these houses in some local governments that do not have housing challenges, would amount to a waste of resources.
“In fact, 60 per cent of the 774 local governments and area councils do not have housing challenges. Ifo local government in Ogun State, all the 30 local governments in Osun State, all the local governments in Nasarawa State, most local governments in Sokoto State, Kwali and Abaji area councils in fact etc do not have housing challenges. “Locating social housing in these local governments and area councils are political and a waste of resources,” he said.
Another expert, Stephen Onu, a town planner, corroborated Oyewole, adding that he would rather require them to come up with a program on social housing wherein participating local governments would have easy access to funding the preparation of the housing scheme and construction of the houses.
“Going by their proposals some of the urban local governments may not be in the position to assemble land for such a project as buildable land may not be easy to access.
“Let them move away from their age-long idea of generalizing projects and concentrate on programs that may be attractive to both the public and private sectors participation,” he said.
By this, he said that only visionary governments or investors would take the challenge seriously.
Dangiwa highlighted the Federal Government’s commitment to tackling Nigeria’s housing deficit, which exceeds 20 million units, describing it as both a challenge and an opportunity for transformative change
He emphasised that closing this gap would require the construction of 500,000 housing units annually over the next decade.
As part of this effort, he outlined the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme, a government-led initiative aimed at delivering 100,000 housing units in its first phase.
These developments are designed as integrated communities that will accommodate a diverse range of income groups, from high-end residences to affordable units for low- and middle-income earners.
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