The Nigerian housing market, at the weekend, received a major boost from Lagos State government which inaugurated an Affordable Public Housing Scheme in Idale Badagry, offloading into the market 252 two-bedroom terrace bungalows built in an eco-friendly environment.
This first green and ecofriendly estate in the state has raised the profile of its host community, making it a new destination for home buyers and investors. It has also raised hope for 252 families to leave the housing market where an estimated three million home seekers in the state are on queue.
The Idale housing scheme is a joint venture between the state government and Echostone Development. Babajide Sanwo-olu, the state governor, disclosed that the state’s collaboration with investors in housing development has yielded results by adding to the state’s existing stock of homes.
Moruf Akinderu-fatai, the state’s commissioner for housing, highlighted in his welcome address the unique features of the estate that have made it an attraction for home buyers and investors alike.
“The estate comes with the convenience of low cost maintenance in terms of water usage and energy efficiency. It also boasts of infrastructure such as street lights, water treatment plant, central sewage treatment plant, perimeter fence and good road network,” he said at the commissioning of the estate.
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The housing scheme also comes with mortgage package which makes it affordable and accessible to both low and medium income earners.
The Idale scheme is one of a number of other joint venture schemes which the state government says it is leveraging on to push its resolution to speedily ameliorate challenges caused by limited housing.
“We are leveraging on this relationship for further additions to the housing stock in the state. We solidified our relationship with viable investors in the housing sector. Our target was actually those with innovative building technology that could reduce building time and cost without compromising quality of homes,” the commissioner disclosed.
Through these relationships, the state has been able to undertake projects such as the Courtland Luxury Villas at Igbokushu (120 units), Lekki Apartments in Lekki Phase 1 (124 units), Lagoshoms Lekki Phase 2 (84 units) Lagoshoms Iponri (132 units) and also the Idale scheme. Others are at Abraham Adesanya Estate and some others sited at Ijora, Ilubirin and Ibeshe.
The commissioner assured all the residents of the state that the state government was committed to providing affordable and quality homes for all categories of residents, stressing that provision of shelter to the residents was, in this context, a priority for the state government.
In order to serve the shelter needs of all categories of citizens, he said, the state was considering a rental intervention scheme to be known as Home4all which was aimed at reducing the financial stress on certain categories of tenants.
“We are targeting young professionals with basic housing needs. Under this proposed scheme, beneficiaries will be expected to pay rent on a monthly or quarterly basis instead of the prevailing system whereby landlords collect annual rents,” he said
“Work will also commence soon on Workers Village, Ishefun with 608 two-bedroom houses. The Workers Village at Imota with 501 homes made up of two bedrooms and three bedrooms flats which is a joint venture scheme will also takeoff,” he assured.
He assured further that government’s desire was to grant easy access to home ownership for government workers and their families, disclosing that the schemes would come with mortgage packages that would make home ownership more accessible for workers in both private and public sectors.
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