The new rent-to-own homeownership initiative of the Lagos State government has taken 300 erstwhile home seekers in the state off the property market in the last two months, which, to an extent, has reduced housing deficit in the state.
Lagos has an estimated 3 million housing units deficit that requires it to deliver about 200,000 housing units annually for the next 20 years to bridge the gap. Over 60 percent of its citizens live in rented apartments, spending about 50 percent of their income on house rents.
In February this year, the new initiative launched late last year as an off-shoot of the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMS), produced 100 home-owners who subscribed to the initiative, came out successfully and were given keys to their new homes by the state government.
Another set of 200 applicants to the initiative were given keys to their new homes in March, bringing the number of those taken off the housing market to 300 in just two months. These houses are part of the over 4,000 housing units which are yet to be subscribed for across different parts of the state.
The state government has assured of the sustainability of this programme such that a strategy has been developed to ensure that upon exhausting the available units, partnership collaboration would be ignited with the private sector for another round of 20,000 housing units.
“The state government made 100 residents house owners in their own rights in February; in March, another set of 200 home owners emerged under this initiative. We will continue with this method until the housing deficit in the state is reasonably bridged,” Gbolahon Lawal, the State Commissioner for Housing, assured recently at keys handing over ceremony.
Continuing, he said, “I am happy to report also that out of the 100 allottees that got their allocation last year, 75 of them have moved into their homes and they are enjoying their residency. I urge others to quickly take possession so that the objectives of the policy can be fully realised.”
The increase of allocation from 100 Units to 200 units is a reflection of increasing demand from applicants who are desirous of becoming home owners under the scheme and the commissioner further disclosed that more windows of opportunities would be opened to other residents of the state as some government housing schemes in Sangotedo, Ajara in Badagry, Igbogbo, Igando Gardens, Egan-Igando would be completed and made available to them before the end of this year.
The allottees were asked to take responsibility for the estates by cooperating with the facilities managers in ensuring that the facilities were put to good use, as efforts will be geared towards ensuring that the environments are kept clean always.
Steve Ayorinde, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, assured that the state was on course in addressing the housing deficit in the state with the new initiative, insisting that in spite of its huge housing deficit, compared with other states in the country, it is doing well. “The state government chose the path of Rent-To-Own to save low and middle income earners the burden of paying for house out-rightly.”
He said the 5 percent commitment fee payment is perhaps the best that any state government can offer all over the world, adding that testimonials of beneficiaries of the scheme speak volume about the transparent nature of the initiative from the application stage to the handing over of keys.
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