Land documentations worsening Lagos housing deficits

The preponderance of Lagos State government placing undue bottlenecks in securing Land titles and documentations have been identified as a major clog in the wheel of the state’s effort at ensuring affordable and habitable housing for her teeming population.Of the 17 million housing units needed to satisfy the accommodation needs of Nigerians, Lagos State boasts of two million housing units deficit and will need at least, 187,500 new homes over the next five years to meet the needs.

Experts in housing and urban development sector, who spoke at an Urban Housing Talk on Lagos Homs organized by Heinrich Boll Stiftung in Lagos, said, the state’s dream of meeting the two million housing units deficit will continue to be a mirage until the government see less of monetary gains on land and title documentations.

The state Commissioner for Housing, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, recently said that the state has introduced a rent-to-own policy, along with the construction of mass houses to reduce the gap. The policy, he said provides a way to for low and medium income earners to pay for houses within 10 years, at six per cent interest rate.