THE LEGACY AND CHALLENGE OF PUBLIC HOUSING PROVISION IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

Thesis Overview

<p> 1.0 Introduction&nbsp;</p><p>This paper examines and discusses the legacy and challenge of public housing provision in Lagos, Nigeria based on a case-study evaluation of selected public housing schemes of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC). Fuelled by Nigeria’s oil-boom in the 1970s, the enduring by-products of rapid urbanization include: squatter settlements, slums, unbridled physical development, and inability to march the housing needs with available resources. Public housing, as a major response to some of these urban problems, has however endured an underlying stigma and generated much criticism (Husock, 2003). The problems of lack of amenities, poor maintenance, strained relationships between public housing residents and management, and chronic financial crisis have been mentioned as recurring themes of state-controlled, public housing (Davidson, 1999). This study is an attempt at evaluating the extent to which such criticisms apply to the selected public housing schemes in Lagos, and to ascertain the key challenges for the future. It is essential that empirical research findings support criticisms, if they are to serve as valid constructs for objective decision-making and policy formulation. Although housing is a universal need, its provision has assumed diverse approaches – in terms of policy instruments and institutions – in different parts of the world. Housing issues and policy problems are both global and inherently local-specific to a given time and place. One of the major responses to the housing challenge has been Public housing. It has taken varied forms in different geographical contexts and other descriptive terms are sometimes used in its place – such as social housing, state-housing, state-sponsored housing, welfare housing, non-profit housing, low-cost housing, affordable housing, and mass housing. Here, public housing refers to a form of housing provision, which emphasizes the role of the State (government and its agencies) in helping to provide housing, particularly for poor, low-income and more vulnerable groups in the society (Van Vliet, 1990). <br></p><p> Two broad approaches to public housing have been identified: Government-provided housing and Government-sponsored housing (Power, 1993). The former involves large-scale direct local authority production and ownership of housing that is further from market rents, more strictly allocated according to need, and more directly managed by government. The latter approach is one that is nearer market rents, and various kinds of independent landlords – such as housing associations, cooperatives and private landlords – build, allocate and manage them. Many developing countries, particularly in Africa, accord relatively low priority to housing in their overall scheme of national development, and the volume of construction generally falls short of housing demands (Van Vliet, 1990). According to Drakakis-Smith (2000), many governments in developing countries have persistently refused to see the provision of adequate shelter as a priority issue in the development process. Low-cost housing provision in particular is considered to be resource-absorbing rather than productive and loses out to investment in industrial infrastructure. <br></p>