Housing Policy: An Analysis of Public Housing Policy Strategies for Low-Income Earners in Nigeria

Abstract

This article evaluates the Global South housing policy for low-income earners by utilising the Nigerian example to analyse public housing policy strategies used to provide housing to low-income earners. The materials employed in the study were housing policy programme documents provided by various ministries that are linked to housing between 1991 and 2020. The housing policy documents were subjected to qualitative content and thematic analysis. The analysis of the selected housing policy documents showed seven key policy strategies that are intended to strengthen affordable housing development. These strategic themes are funds, schemes, governments, implementation, development, land, and rurality. The findings indicated that the existence of housing policy strategical themes does not translate to affordable housing development and housing affordability for low-income earners, though the effective activation and implementation of strategical themes will promote affordable housing development.

Analysing Impediments to the Effective Distribution of Low-income Housing in South Africa: The Case of the Delft Symphony Community in Cape Town

“…Indeed, the low-income housing process in the DS community is seemingly controlled and influenced by those in positions of power, as the study revealed. This is supported by Odoyi and Riekkinen (2022) who found that power dynamics and factors such as a lack of political will to eradicate the housing backlog in South Africa are the main challenges to urban housing in South Africa. The low-income housing strategies and policies are merely formulated by the elite and thereafter imposed on the DS community.…”

“…When the processes of low-income housing are not transparent to citizens, it becomes an opportunity for those in positions of power to manipulate the processes to suit their own interests (Odoyi & Riekkinen, 2022). Indeed, the low-income housing process in the DS community is seemingly controlled and influenced by those in positions of power, as the study revealed.…”

“…The shortage of low-income housing is a social problem that compels poor ordinary citizens around the world to live in informal settlements typified by poor living conditions. In the global arena, the struggles for lowincome housing have been marked by contestations and tensions among different actors, such as poor citizens, political parties and the government (Odoyi & Riekkinen, 2022). Lowincome housing delivery is pressurised mainly by the high movement of people to urban areas in search of a better livelihood.…”

“…As more people move to urban areas, the housing demand has increased and exceeded the supply capacity of the government. As the population seems to grow exponentially in urban areas, the number of people needing housing has also increased (Odoyi & Riekkinen, 2022). This is because most of the urban population in South Africa is either unemployed or belongs to the lowincome group.…”

“…Despite the convincing elements of the Theory of Self-help Housing such as community involvement in low-income housing, some scholars, including Odoyi and Riekkinen (2022), argue that this theory is costly and unrealistic because the government has to acquire expensive land from private owners. Thus, where the land is not State-owned, much of the funding is spent on land costs rather than on the actual construction or on infrastructure investment, which further makes self-help housing schemes expensive for the State.…”