26/02/2021
Housing is widely recognized as a human right in the world we live in today, yet Nigeria’s middle and low-income households in particular struggle when it comes to finding decent, adequate and affordable housing solutions that does not leave them in financial difficulty.
Generally, affordable housing deals with housing solutions that are priced and financed in a way that ensures middle and low-income occupants can also satisfy their other basic needs. Even though the scarcity of affordable housing solutions affects all segments of society, it is notably low-income earners who are most affected. The Nigerian urban housing market primarily targets high and upper middle-income earners and thus leaves large parts of the Nigerian population (over 60%) excluded from formal housing provision.
With a surging housing deficit that currently stands at well over 17 million housing units, Nigeria represents one of the biggest markets globally for new housing construction targeted at middle and low-income groups. In order to meet the supply gap of 23 million units by 2025, over 2.6 million homes will have to be constructed annually. However, optimistic estimates suggest that only around 200,000 units a year are currently being built. The sheer magnitude of the housing gap should be enough to make businesses and investors sit up and pay attention to the great prospects offered by the Nigerian affordable housing market. The difficulty lies, however, in recognizing and adequately approaching these opportunities. Even though the bulk of the housing need stems from lower-income markets, the vast majority of private businesses do not believe that serving the needs of low-income earners can be a profitable business – and neither does government. Most of the housing schemes delivered in Nigeria to date target the high-end luxury market segment and, to some extent, the middle class that has emerged over recent years.
With rising insecurity, poverty levels and unemployment urbanization and migration levels from rural areas in Nigeria is at an all-time high. The time for the middle and low income bracket to be the major target for housing projects both on the government and private driven side is now! Failure for all parties involved to urgently tackle this infringement on the basic human right to shelter happening at alarming rate in Nigeria will reach catastrophic levels in the near future.
Middle and low income earning Nigerians need affordable housing now more than ever before. Who will bell the cat?
