In a manner suggestive of putting an end to the intractable debate on affordable housing delivery in Nigeria, Northcourt Real Estate Limited, a new generation real estate, firm has documented in a book form all that needs to be done to deliver housing ‘cheaply’ for low-income and home-seeking Nigerians.
The book titled as ‘Affordable: Thinking critically and differently about affordable housing,’ authored by Tayo Odunsi, Northcourt CEO, will be launched and made available to the public next week Tuesday at Four Points by Sheraton, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Affordable is a ‘new normal’ in the housing lexicon in Nigeria, especially in its commitment to delineating the roles of five essential participants in delivering affordable housing, including the government, private sector, professionals, community, and the individual.
“We devoted each chapter of the book to describe what a particular participant needs to do or view differently, so that sustainable affordable housing can be achieved,” Odunsi, who spoke at a press briefing in Lagos recently, said.
The book, which draws on experiences from European, Latin American and African contexts, is also designed to help all the stakeholder think critically about housing issues and to think differently about its delivery, which has remained a huge challenge in the country.
While government plays a major role as the initiator, regulator and enabler of affordable housing, Odunsi pointed out that the community and the individual were very critical stakeholders. “An enlightened community has the power to say housing should be affordable; they can influence the market and housing value,” he explained.
“The individual is the highest decision making participant in affordable housing delivery. He should be the one to decide and determine what is affordable because he can decide not to buy or to buy at a given price,” he said.
He noted that each time people talk about the housing deficit in the country, focus was on the housing supplier, which in his opinion was wrong. The demand side is a major factor, he said, because as a people, Nigerians have wrong perception and attitude to home-ownership.
“Everybody wants to own homes at the same time and nobody wants to rent, which creates a demand pressure too difficult for suppliers to cope with. “So, our attitude to home-ownership also contributes to the deficit in the housing market,” he said.
Expectation is that Affordable will right these wrongs as each participant should know what role it has to play, leading to a coordinated approach to supply and convenient access to the product.
While the professionals have the responsibility of guiding people on housing career to correct the wrong perception and attitude to home ownership, the government can make land cheaper without reducing the price by allowing the development of multiple units on a given plot of land in a given area.
“We believe that houses are not affordable in Nigeria because the various stakeholders have not done what is expected of them; when each stakeholder realizes that his role in the housing delivery chain is as important as another, houses will begin to be affordable,” he said.
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