Association solicits funding for affordable housing

The Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria (AHCN) has solicited the establishment of a special development fund under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Intervention Fund for the building of rental and affordable mass housing.

The President of AHCN, Dr Victor Onukwugha, who spoke during a press conference in Abuja to mark the World Habitat Day, said the fund should be made available to the association and the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) for housing development.

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He noted that one of the critical areas of housing that had been neglected over the years was the provision of rental housing on a large scale.

He, therefore, said the affordable housing development fund should be made available for rental housing and affordable low cost housing schemes, while the state governments should provide land and infrastructure.

Dr Onukwugha said, “There is hardly any recognised institution that provides well-structured and formal rental housing on a large target at the medium to low-income segment in existence throughout the country. It is an area that is most dear to us as an association; to help reduce the impact of homelessness and to create a formal affordable market for rental housing to drive down exorbitant rents, especially in our urban centres, and build sustainable choices for the people.”

He urged the federal government to create the enabling environment to attract investors and funds to the housing and construction sector, noting that it would stimulate the crawling mortgage market thereby creating unhindered access to affordable mortgage, as well as an exit point for developers who invested in housing.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN), Barr Festus Adebayo, urged state governors to take responsibility of providing housing for their citizens seriously.

Barr Adebayo lamented that there had been no commitment to the development of the sector despite its essentiality to the growth of the economy and the welfare of citizens.