Housing Shortage: Implications for Sustainable Urban Development in Nigeria – A Review

Abstract

Global investment in housing accounts for 15% to 35% of most developed nation’s national budgets. In Nigeria, the figure is a dismal 0.4%! Although successive governments since independence in 1960 have implemented various policies and programs aimed at the provision of decent and affordable housing to the citizens, these have resulted in little or no effective solutions to the ever-increasing demand for housing in Nigeria. Rather, maladies of the deficits typified by slum settlements in urban fabrics characterized by naked absence of basic infrastructure, poor sanitary surroundings, dilapidated structures, physical dullness in the landscapes etc. making life disenchanting with challenges of social exclusion. This review is aimed at determining the housing shortage in Nigeria and its implications for sustainable urban planning development. Through explorative review of relevant literature on government efforts in public housing delivery, estimated demand, and slum option, a planning framework to ameliorate the consequence is recommended.

Keywords: Housing, Planning, Sustainable Development.