Housing provision: A right, not necessity

By: Yetunde A. Akanji

HOME is where our story begins’ is a phrase that emphasises the importance of home in our lives. We were either born at home or taken home when we were  born. As we grow older, home becomes our sanctuary, and we feel the love, pleasure and comfort the home brings. Housing is the foundation and bedrock of stability and security for an individual or family. it is the centre of social, emotional, and to a large extent economic lives, a place to live in peace and dignity, where one can sleep, prepare food, use the facilities of a bathroom, and be at leisure.  Matthew Desmond, an American sociologist, said housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. Without stable shelter, it all falls apart. Should that be the case, the pathway to housing should be fair, equitable, affordable and accessible for everyone. Housing represents far more than just physical shelter in today’s world, it has been recognized as a fundamental human right essential for dignity, and man’s well-being. In other words, right to adequate housing has been giving a place within the provisions of International human rights law .

Article 25(1) of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing…”. With this declaration, the right to adequate housing did not just gain international recognition, but established housing as a necessary component of a dignified life. Several international instruments, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements (1976), the Istanbul Declaration and Habitat Agenda (1996) and the New Urban Agenda (2016), to mention a few took a queue after the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as it relates to housing. These instruments reiterates that right to adequate housing encompasses more than just having a roof over one’s head. It includes legal security of tenure, availability of services, affordability, habitability, accessibility, location, and cultural adequacy according to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights.

Section 43 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution states that every citizen of Nigeria shall have the right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria. In other words, provision of adequate and quality housing is one of the roles of any government and one of its main responsibilities to its citizens.  Though globally recognized as the cornerstone of human rights frameworks, access to decent and affordable housing remains unrealized for over a billion people worldwide who continue to live in inadequate conditions or face homelessness. Nigeria, with a deficit of about 28 million housing units faces a critical housing shortage, causin                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            g house prices to skyrocket beyond the reach of middle-class families, leaving millions of Nigerians to grapple with inadequate living conditions, forcing many into slums and peripheral areas with limited infrastructure and social services. More Nigerians are being pushed into informal housing markets, those in the low ends are left to survive in environments where health, security, and opportunities for upward mobility are severely limited, which exacerbates poverty and undermines efforts to improve living standards.

Rapid-growing population and rapid urbanization, among other factors, have worsened the housing deficit crisis in Nigeria  in recent times. With a population of approximately 250 million coupled with high demand in housing units, both in quantity and quality, there is need to seriously address the issue of housing deficit in Nigeria.As it is now, the dream of  many Nigerians forhome ownership is as far off as ever and real estate experts have predicted that 700,000 new homes would be needed annually. World Bank estimates based on the United Nations population division’s world urbanization prospects (2018)  says Nigeria’s urban population is expected to grow by over 200 million by 2050. This is a potential social crisis. The National Bureau of Statistics and International Monetary Fund agree that the lack of affordable housing options has led to the proliferation of slums, particularly in urban centres.

Housing in Nigeria, particularly in the cities and urban areas have increasingly become an investment vehicle rather than a social good, driving up costs beyond the reach of average earners that reflects systemic failures in urban planning, financing, and policy implementation.  Going forward, housing sector in Nigeria needs a comprehensive overhaul. Government should find solution to the main factors contributing to housing challenge in the country. Fundamental issues of high cost of land acquisition, long, complex and bureaucratic process of titling and documentation, increasing cost of building materials, and inadequate infrastructure have made it extremely difficult, if not impossible for developers to build affordable homes. Absence of a comprehensive mortgage system is another major impediment to home-ownership. Federal Government’s National Housing Programme and other initiatives have been marred by inadequate funding, enmeshed in corruption, and poor project execution. These combined have created significant barriers for middle and low-income earners to purchase homes. It is more worrisome to note that housing crisis in Nigeria, apart from its severe and several effects on the urban poor, it has become a a major impediment to the nation’s economic growth and development. The  construction industry, which has the potential to employ millions and stimulate local economies for instance, remains bogged by bottlenecks. Despite its immense potential, the real estate sectorfaces series of challenges of high inflation rates, policy instability, and lack of infrastructure development.

Housing deficit is a major problem that requires urgent attention, and the fact of the matter is that housing shortage offers opportunity for investment and development, but government has to come up with clear-cut policy thrust, and make housing a top priority, bearing in mind that housing is a fundamental human right, which is clearly stated in the Constitution. It should be noted that housing issue also encompasses economic and social factors that impacts the country’s entire development. Therefore, if Nigeria wouldrealize its potential as an economic powerhouse, we must address the housing deficit by making it a central focus of policy reform.

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Should we fail to do this, we would by error of omission or commission make housing a necessity, rather than right, with the implication that millions will remain trapped in substandard living conditions, while the country’s cities will continue to swell with more impoverished citizens, compounding the already daunting challenge of urban poverty.

The provision of adequate and affordable housing is a fundamental human right as enshrined in the United Nations Habitat Agenda and the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. The government should therefore prioritize affordable housing by increasing investments in housing finance and infrastructure development. Public-private partnerships could play a pivotal role in addressing the deficit.

•Akanji is a Lagos based estate surveyor and valuer