By Samson Echenim

Thursday, 2 Dec 2010

A senior executive of the United Kingdom Department for International Development, Mr. Heiner Woller, has said that, with the adoption of the affordable housing model, Nigeria can solve its 15 million housing units deficit.

The model, according to him, also has the potential of engaging 600,000 workers as professionals and artisans, whose services will be required to provide the homes over a period of about 15 years.

He spoke at an interaction with mortgagers, private sector employers and employees, who gathered in Lagos on Tuesday to find lasting solutions to the country‘s housing challenge.

Woller, who heads the Growth and Employment in States Construction and Real Estate unit of the DFID, said the affordable housing model would enable low income earners to own their homes by paying as little as N10,000 per month for a period of 20 years.

Describing affordable housing as a term used to describe dwelling units, whose total costs were deemed affordable to those that had a median income, Woller said the term also applied to rental housing that was within the financial means of those in the lower income bracket of a geographical area.

He said, ”A commonly accepted guideline for housing affordability is a housing cost that does not exceed 30 per cent of a household‘s gross income.”

 

Source: Punch