Urban Housing Issues in Nigerian Cities: A Case for Real Estate Maintenance as a Sustainable Option for Trans-Ekulu Housing Estate, Enugu, Nigeria

Abstract

Housing delivery has become a global issue. The millennium development goal identified housing as a basic human need and proposed shelter for all by 2015. Here in Nigeria, the rate of rapid urbanization, rural-urban migratio and haphazard development of houses in some Nigerian cities have resulted to the associated blight, squalor and slum conditions, occasioned by high occupancy ratio and congestion and these have been the bane of urban housing delivery, especially in Enugu. As the 553^rd city in the world as well as the capital City of Enugu state, the City of Enugu has many educational, industrial and governmental establishments. The city enjoys an urban growth rate of 2.5% and a current urban population of about 927,642 residents. As a result, Enugu faces high housing needs that require a sustainable approach. This paper focuses on real estate maintenance as a sustainable option for the improvement of housing estates in Enugu using the Trans-Ekulu housing estate as a case study. 10% of the housing stock in each street of the estate was studied. A total of 114 household heads of the randomly selected houses were the respondents. Among other things; the study revealed that approximately 83% of the total housing stock in the estate was dilapidated due to gross lack of maintenance as measured by the presence of rusted and leaking roof, cracked walls and weak foundation, broken doors and windows, unpainted or deteriorated paints, deteriorated housing facilities and non availability of some facilities and landscape elements. Policy review and integrated action and co-operation among relevant professionals involved in the planning, development and management of housing estates in Enugu as well as public participation among others were recommended.

Key Words: Urban Housing, Real Estate Maintenance, Sustainable Options, Trans-Ekulu Housing Estate, Enugu, Nigeria