HOUSING DEFICIT, PRIVATE DEVELOPERS DEMAND REVIEW OF MORTGAGE LAW
A recent report by the Natio
nal Bureau of Statistics estimated the country’s housing deficit to be over 17 million units, with a population of 180 million.
Experts believe that a major way to offset the deficit is to massively engage private estate developers.
Private developers are individuals who invest, acquire buildings or lands to construct or refurbish building projects located in various places.
Buildings constructed by private developers are sold completely or in parts to interested individuals.
Developers aim to make profit as opposed to government, which has the responsibility to provide buildings for social and welfare reasons.
A private developer, Chief Loretta Aniagolu, stated that the nation’s economic policies were unfavourable to developers thereby resulting in shortage of decent accommodation, especially for economic policies that encouraged entrepreneurship.
Chief Aniagolu expressed regret that previous governments did not do enough in terms of providing accommodation for the citizenry and called for building an economy that was sustainable.
She also stated that developers could not build houses at lower cost just as buyers could not get houses at reduced rate owing to the high cost of borrowing funds from mortgage banks.
The President Real Estate Association of Nigeria, the Reverend Ugo Chime, explained that the existing laws did not take into cognizance the enabling environment that needed to be created for developers to properly play their roles as investors.
He advocated introduction of laws to protect the private developers, especially in the event of fore closures.
The founder of a Youth Organization in Enugu, Mr. Chidozie Ogenyi, said governments should provide loans that were accessible to enable developers build affordable houses.
For a Public Affairs Analyst, Mr. Tony Udegbu, the mortgage banks had failed in their roles of making low interest loan easily available to developers.
According to Mr. Udegbu, government should subsidize the cost of building materials and consider the plights of low income earners in the nation’s housing policy.
EVELYN AWUNOR
