ASSESSMENT OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AND THE AFFORDABILITY IN OGUN STATE (CASE STUDY OPIC AND OGUN STATE HOUSING)

ASSESSMENT OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AND THE AFFORDABILITY IN OGUN STATE (CASE STUDY OPIC AND OGUN STATE HOUSING)

ABSTRACT

This study was to assess housing development and the affordability in Ogun State with a particular reference to Opic and Ogun State housing. To achieve this objective, four research questions were formulated to guide the study. The data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data were collected with the help of a well-structured questionnaire of two sections administered to respondents Opic and Ogun State housing. The collected data were analyzed with tables and simple percentages to analyze the research questions. The study concluded with some recommendations that government should encourage private partnership by providing enabling environment through tax reduction, well organised mortgage schemes and low interest rate for funding housing projects and the opinions and inputs of end users of the housing schemes should be taken during the planning, design and           construction stages of the project in order to meet the     beneficiaries of the schemes.

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Housing is an integral part of human settlement that fulfils basic need and has a profound impact on the quality of life, health, welfare as well as productivity of man. It plays a crucial role in integrated physical and economic development, environmental sustainability, natural disaster mitigation and employment generation as well as wealth creation (Erguden, 2001; Boehm and Schlottmann, 2001; UN-HABITAT, 2006a). The desire for adequate and affordable housing also has strong links to the need for security, safety and proper socio-economic status of individuals and communities. In spite of this widely acknowledged importance of housing and various efforts in making adequate and affordable housing available to majority of people, a large proportion of urban residents in less developed countries do not have access to decent housing at affordable cost (Tipple,2004; 2006; UN-HABITAT, 2006a; Greene and Rojas, 2008). As a result, most urban residents in Developing Countries live in housing conditions that constitute an affront to human dignity and which comes with appalling social, economic, spatial and health implications (Rondinelli, 1990; Cotton and Tayler, 1994; Opara, 2003; UN-HABITAT, 2006d; Coker et al., 2007; UNFPA, 2007). Hence, inadequate housing condition has become an intractable challenge that has continued to receive attention from governments and individuals in many developing countries.

In line with human tradition which seeks to investigate, describe, understand and proffer solutions to ameliorate defects in human conditions, and enhance individual and collective well-being; both public and private sectors have continued to take concerted efforts at addressing the social and economic challenges posed by inadequacies in housing provision in many countries of the world. These efforts have informed legislations, policies, strategies and reforms, which most often have culminated in various housing programmes (Onibokun, 1985; Rondinelli, 1990; Ajanlekoko, 2002; Sengupta, 2005; Sengupta and Sharma, 2008). A review of literature shows that between 1950 and 2000, governments in many developing countries have engaged in different housing programmes and delivery strategies. For example, previous studies have shown that successive administrations in Nigeria had launched a minimum of seven public housing programmes in the last few decades in a bid to address increasing housing challenges in the country (Onibokun, 1985; Awotona, 1990; Ogu, 1999; Ogu and Ogbuozobe, 2001; Ajanlekoko, 2002; UN-HABITAT, 2006a; Akinmoladun and Oluwoye, 2007; Ademiluyi and Raji, 2008).

ASSESSMENT OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AND THE AFFORDABILITY IN OGUN STATE (CASE STUDY OPIC AND OGUN STATE HOUSING)