Increase cost of housing in Nigeria - what's the solution?

[Aliciaworld]

The rising cost of housing in Nigeria is a problem that needs attention. Because people can no longer afford to pay for good accommodation, they're forced to live in slums-residential areas that are detrimental to their health, as these places has limited access to clean water and sanitation amongst other leading to high exposure to diseases due to poor hygiene and waste management. Although there are factors that actually contributed to this increase likely scarcity of houses, cost of acquiring a land, construction cost and maintenance etc there's a government in place that's supposed to regulate all these, at times I wonder what the ministry of housing and urban development is for.

[ArabBTC]

The rising cost of housing in Nigeria is a problem that needs attention. Because people can no longer afford to pay for good accommodation, they're forced to live in slums-residential areas that are detrimental to their health, as these places has limited access to clean water and sanitation amongst other leading to high exposure to diseases due to poor hygiene and waste management. Although there are factors that actually contributed to this increase likely scarcity of houses, cost of acquiring a land, construction cost and maintenance etc there's a government in place that's supposed to regulate all these, at times I wonder what the ministry of housing and urban development is for.

Sincerely even myself am tired with the continued hike in cost of living in Nigeria, things are literally so expensive that i wonder how low income earners are surviving, the worst of it is this continues increase in house rent, well i literally attribute the high cost of housing to bad government policies, bad governance have made it impossible for our industries to work, if our industries was working well most of the building materials would have been produced here in Nigeria and the issue of importation tax would have been completely eradicated and price of building materials will have reduced drastically and house rent would have been reduced, secondly bad government policies have literally made it impossible to control landlords rent prices, no form of price regulation at all because same government accept bribe from landlords and allow them build in places that is against the urban/rural plan hence literally don’t have a say in house prices regulations, thirdly our government isn’t investing in housing, the government in most countries always invest in housing thereby creating a competitive market between government owned houses and private house owners but the reverse is the case in Nigeria, our government cares only about money laundering.

I believe that only our government have the capacity to regulate the prices of housing if only they can make good policies that will control price of building materials and also regulate house rent prices, if possible also give subsidy to housing and also build government owned houses for rent that will be low in prices, thereby giving private house owners a tough competition because trust me if the government builds a lot of houses and keep the rent at a very low price the private house owners (Landlords) will have no choice but to reduce there prices too.

[Biirakedee]

For me I feel part of the problem is that there is no real control. Landlords and especially agents just fix prices based on what they feel or what the next person is charging. No structure, no regulation and the tenant is the one facung and bearing the everything. I also think we don’t have enough affordable housing options. Most new buildings are targeted at people who can already afford high rent while average earners are left struggling. For solution I just think the government needs to step in more seriously not just talk, there should be proper regulation on agent and extra charges and more support for affordable housing project. Even if it’s not perfect atleast it will reduce the pressure a bit because at this rate housing is slowly becoming a luxury.

[Africolo]

The rising cost of housing in Nigeria is a problem that needs attention. Because people can no longer afford to pay for good accommodation, they're forced to live in slums-residential areas that are detrimental to their health, as these places has limited access to clean water and sanitation amongst other leading to high exposure to diseases due to poor hygiene and waste management. Although there are factors that actually contributed to this increase likely scarcity of houses, cost of acquiring a land, construction cost and maintenance etc there's a government in place that's supposed to regulate all these, at times I wonder what the ministry of housing and urban development is for.

The rising cost of housing in Nigeria is alarming and the poor finds it difficult to afford a suitable house for themselves and family. However, our government is in a better position to make a decree on rent control so as to curtail this high rate of rent collected by the landlords, factors that causes high increase in housing is the cost of building materials in the market and cost of acquisition of land and registration,.

I think the government should embark on urbanization control, where various uses of land is specified for a particular purpose to enhance development and ensuring there are affordable housing that are safe for all, the agency that is supposed to checkmate this things are the ministry of housing but they are not doing their jobs. If government builds low cost houses for the citizens and gives discounts on the rent I'm sure the landlords that are increasing rent will automatically reduce it because they won't have clients anymore, rent control and regulation by the government is the only solution to the rising cost of housing in Nigeria.

[Marvelockg]

Although there are factors that actually contributed to this increase likely scarcity of houses, cost of acquiring a land, construction cost and maintenance etc there's a government in place that's supposed to regulate all these, at times I wonder what the ministry of housing and urban development is for.

Are there government buildings for her citizens that can be subsidized such that anyone renting it gets to pay a smaller amount? If such doesn't exist, why should the government interface with house owners that spent Thier hard earned money to build and their house? You can't give what you don't have and the government knows better.

If the citizens where earning a modest amount and jobs where available, it would have been easier for an average person to get a good apartment for themselves but unfortunately, the failure on the part of the government is the root cause of the housing issue we're facing and you can't hold house owners accountable for the failure of the government.

[Btcdeybodi]

This is a very big problem but in other way round, you can't blame those who are increasing rents for their houses because the cost of building materials is not also cheap. However, unemployment is part of the reasons why housing has increased because you see many jobless landlords who just depends on the proceeds they get from renting out their houses in order to earn a living. I have seen few houses that the owners are not residing in the country and they kept the rent at a very affordable price.

Sadly, government cannot regulate houses they didn't build, if they want to regulate the cost of housing then they should build houses and rent them out to the public. Everyone has the right to stipulate an amount they want their houses to be rented, if you are not comfortable with the price then you should look for another one elsewhere. To build is standard house now is luxury, no be bobo juice be that because you go really spend better money.

[Biirakedee]

This is a very big problem but in other way round, you can't blame those who are increasing rents for their houses because the cost of building materials is not also cheap. However, unemployment is part of the reasons why housing has increased because you see many jobless landlords who just depends on the proceeds they get from renting out their houses in order to earn a living. I have seen few houses that the owners are not residing in the country and they kept the rent at a very affordable price.

Sadly, government cannot regulate houses they didn't build, if they want to regulate the cost of housing then they should build houses and rent them out to the public. Everyone has the right to stipulate an amount they want their houses to be rented, if you are not comfortable with the price then you should look for another one elsewhere. To build is standard house now is luxury, no be bobo juice be that because you go really spend better money.

No doubt that building materials are expensive now and that affects rents but I don’t fully agree that landlords can just charge anything because they own the house. House is a basing need not just any commodity And if anything is left unchecked it becomes difficult for average people to even have a place to stay. I also get the part that some landlords depend on the house rents for survival but that doesn’t remove the pressure it puts on tenants who are also struggling. For me government may not be able to control every house but they can still create guidelines, regulate agents and invest in affordable housing to balance things out. Leaving everything to go and find another place doesn’t solve the problem when almost everywhere is expensive. Shelter is supposed to be necessity not luxury so it shouldn’t be left completely without control, there still need to be some level of fairness.

[DYOR+BTC]

This is a very big problem but in other way round, you can't blame those who are increasing rents for their houses because the cost of building materials is not also cheap. However, unemployment is part of the reasons why housing has increased because you see many jobless landlords who just depends on the proceeds they get from renting out their houses in order to earn a living. I have seen few houses that the owners are not residing in the country and they kept the rent at a very affordable price.

Sadly, government cannot regulate houses they didn't build, if they want to regulate the cost of housing then they should build houses and rent them out to the public. Everyone has the right to stipulate an amount they want their houses to be rented, if you are not comfortable with the price then you should look for another one elsewhere. To build is standard house now is luxury, no be bobo juice be that because you go really spend better money.

Identifying high cost of building materials as the primary factor responsible for constant increase of house rent, what then can you say about those houses that have been built before we started experiencing inflation in the country. The reason I can accept is because of the demand, because the higher the demand of houses the more rent increase.
In rural areas the same cost of materials used in building houses is still same used in building in urban areas but that of the rural areas remains low all just because the demand of houses there is low while that of the urban increase as the demand increases also.

[Pressurizedem]

Cost of house is another problem facing people leaving in the urban areas of Nigeria. So many persons are leaving from hand to mouth simply because all the salary they get from their place of work is being sent to settle the salary bill, and that leaves them broke.

 It would be good if government can provide accomodations at different states for those who are battling with a specific illness or the other so that they can focus on themselves and get better.

[Biirakedee]

Cost of house is another problem facing people leaving in the urban areas of Nigeria. So many persons are leaving from hand to mouth simply because all the salary they get from their place of work is being sent to settle the salary bill, and that leaves them broke.

 It would be good if government can provide accomodations at different states for those who are battling with a specific illness or the other so that they can focus on themselves and get better.

I think the solution goes beyond just providing accommodation for people with specific illness because even healthy working individual are struggling to afford decent places to live. The real issue is that rent is rising faster than people’s income and with that, there are not enough housing options. So people are stuck without knowing what to do, just working hard but still unable to live comfortably. So what people need is not just support for a few group of people but a system that makes housing more accessible for everyone and the only way this can happen is by building more affordable housing not just luxury ones, also by proper rent regulations they o prevent extreme increase.

[Pearl_20]

This problem is a very big one and it's affecting a lot of families who are just managing to feed, something has to be done because the way Landlords increase rent is alarming. Most of the houses are very old buildings that wasn't renovated at all, they'll just wake up to increase rent and you must pay or you move out. My Landlady increased her rent last year to an outrageous amount all because a hotel was built on that street and the who owns the hotel tiled the entire street, a house that almost everything in it is spoilt, I just had to move out.

The one that Agents are even doing is on another level, these increase of house rents should be looked into because it's not funny at all, I was just reading something online yesterday when one Lady made a video soliciting for help as they moved to their uncomplicated building because they couldn't keep up with rent and luckily for her some Celebrities offered their assistance. I'm pretty sure that there are more families suffering over this house issues. Most families can't even save all they do is just save for rent, as their salary isn't enough for other basic needs.

The most annoying part are those Landlords that their building are leaking, no renovations and yet they still increase rent yearly and another problem is that we have people who are ready to move in and even furnish the house as if it belongs to them.

A friend was complaining how their Landlord increased his rent and no water in their compound, no light for almost a year, The Landlord decided to put water at the front of his compound where people can buy and everyone in that compound buys water from him, I was shocked to hear that you have to buy water from the very compound that you live in, from your own Landlord. The man didn't just increase the houses both his shops as well, and people still moved in, Landlords, Agents and those people who are ready to pay any amount to move in without considering the cost are the major problems we have, I wish the body responsible to regulate houses can look into it because so many people are considering relocation.