A property development firm, Shelter Initiatives has advocated the involvement of local councils in housing provision and construction as a means to make homes affordable in the country.
The Managing Director, Shelter Initiatives, Mrs Morenike Babalola, who spoke to The Guardian in Abuja, said the private sector housing provision would not be affordable for low-income earners due to skyrocketing building materials prices.
She said the government can make housing affordable through direct provision of housing, building rent-to-own, provision of access to mortgages at affordable cost and removal of bureaucracies and bottlenecks to enable access to mortgage loan facilities under the National Housing Fund (NHF).
“In the absence of good policies, the housing deficit will continue to grow and the living standards of the majority of the population will be poor with attendant health challenges. Government intervention would alleviate the suffering of the poor and make housing affordable,” Babalola.
She further called on the government to regulate and control the manufacturing of building materials and improve local building materials, as well as ensure efficient implementation of policies.
“The problem has always been the rise and fall in the housing market but over time the situation will be stabilised as the economy improves,” she said.
Babalola stressed that the federal and state governments have the key into many international shelter programmes that will reduce the housing shortfall, adding that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and other initiatives should be cascaded to the state and local levels.
According to her, “This is the time for real estate investors to invest in the housing market. Demand and needs are different for the various socio-economic groups.
“The middle and low-income groups will need government intervention as the present economic headwinds will not allow low-income groups to afford any house type in the market.”
