With a housing deficit of 2.5 million units, the Lagos State Government has initiated talks with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and multilateral development agencies to construct 100,000 units of mass housing units across the state.
Apart from this initiative, the state has also revealed the plan to deliver 7,600 homes on or before 2022 when the state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu would be three years in office.
This plan was revealed in a housing sector assessment report that the Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Moruf Akinderu-Fatai recently presented at the state secretariat, Alausa to mark Sanwo-Olu’s mid-term anniversary.
Akinderu-Fatai presented the report alongside his information and strategy counterpart, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Housing, Mr. Wasiu Akewusola, among others.
Lagos, one of the world’s first-twentieth largest cities, is faced with an acute housing deficit of over 2.5 million, which according to the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS), accounts for about 14.7% of Nigeria’s housing deficit estimated at 17 million.
With over 500,000 migrants relocating to the state yearly from different parts of the federation, according to government statistics, 85% of its residents live in rented apartments and spend over 40% of their income on rents per annum.
Confronted with this social challenge, the state government has come up with multi-pronged initiatives -LagosHoms, Home4More and Joint Venture etc. – to provide decent homes for the residents across social strata.
As indicated in the report, however, Akinderu-Fatai revealed the state’s new mass housing initiative with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), an operational arm of the United Nations, to provide 100,000 units of
housing units in different parts of the state
