Research Document: Bridging the Housing and Urban Development Divide

Posted Tue, Apr 23, 2024 12:50 PM

The housing sector has consistently played a pivotal role in the economic fortune of nations. In advanced countries such as the United States of America, the industry contributes about 16 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (US Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024). However, this figure is less than 6 percent in Nigeria (National Bureau of Statistics, 2024). While no singular sector has as much associated value chain impact as Housing and Urban Development, the sector appears weak. In 2021, the World Bank estimated that Nigeria’s housing deficit stood at 15.56 million units (Behr et al., 2021). In 2023, the Nigerian government put the housing deficit statistics at 28 million units with an estimated funding need of N21 trillion (The State House, 2023). These statistics allude to the need for urgent interventions in the Nigerian  housing sector.

This paper seeks to advocate public-private strategies to drive efficient housing and urban development while underpinning the importance of partnership and collaboration amongst stakeholders in bridging Nigeria's housing and urban development divide. The following recommendations were proffered: provide a sound National Housing Plan, a robust policy regulatory framework to address the supply and demand-side issues faced by the housing ecosystem; ensure an effective geo-mapping strategy for land; commoditise housing and industrialise the process; foster collaboration and partnership with sub-nationals and other stakeholders; develop the mortgage market and ensure access to land, data validation of the actual deficit of housing required and finally, drive reforms at the sub-national level.