Abstract
The prime reason why people live in slum is because of their inability to afford decent and adequate housing. Housing is considered affordable if a household can live in it without sacrificing essentials such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care. A commonly accepted guideline for housing affordability is a housing cost that does not exceed 30% of a household’s gross income. When the monthly carrying costs of a home exceed 30% of household income, the housing is considered unaffordable for that household. Income and cost are the primary factors that determine housing affordability. Therefore, understanding affordable housing challenges requires understanding disparities in income and wealth. In the study area income and cost are the primary causes of poor housing affordability, reason why majority of low income earners seek refuge in slum neighbourhoods. This paper studies five selected slum neighbourhoods in Aba Metropolis with the aim of improving housing affordability and healthy living environment for low income earners in Aba. Mixed research approach (quantitative and qualitative) was adopted in this study. Copies of questionnaire were administered to sample size of 400 respondents drawn using stratified systematic random sampling technique from the five selected slum neighbourhoods. The responses from the respondents were analysed using frequency table and bar chart. Findings of the paper are that, most of the urban population in the study area live in dehumanizing housing environment because of poor income and high cost of house rent while those that have access to decent housing do so at abnormal cost as the market has been unable to meet the growing demand for housing at affordable price. To reduce the cost of housing and increase its affordability in the study area the paper concludes by recommending use of alternative building materials for cost reduction in building construction in the study area to increase housing affordability and healthy living environment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Onu V, Onu AJC (2012) Urban residential housing and low-income earners: a Study of Makurdi Metropolis, Benue State Nigeria. Eur Sci J 8(28):231–246
National Housing Policy (1991) National housing policy, Nigeria. Official Gazette, Abuja
Draft National housing policy (2004). Financial system strategy, Mortgage FSS 2020. International conference. http://www.cenbank.org/fss/tue/BSP/mortgage%20$%20credit/FSS%202020%20%mortgage%20presentation.pdf. Accessed on 24 Nov 2012
Hulchanski JD (1995) The concept of housing affordability: six contemporary uses of the expenditure to income ratio. Hous Stud 10(4):471–491
Mania TT, Arefeen I (2014) Transformation of slums and squatter settlements: a way of sustainable living in context of 21th century cities. Am J Civil Eng Archit 2(2):70–76
Iwuagwu BU, Onyegiri I, Iwuagwu BC (2016) Unaffordable low cost housing as an agent of urban slum formation in Nigeria: how the architect can help. Int J Sustain Dev 11(2):05–16
Andrew ON (1998) Trends in the supply of affordable housing meeting America’s housing needs (MAHD): a Habitat II follow-up project. Available at: https://www.nlihc.org/doc/mahnsupply.pdf. Accessed 2 Mar 2010
Aribigbola A (2008) Housing policy formulation in developing countries: evidence of programme implementation from Akure, Ondo State Nigeria. J Hum Ecol 23(2):125–134
Tilly C (2005) The economic environment of housing: income inequality and insecurity. In: Rachel B, Chester H, Mary EH, Michael S (eds) Housing: foundation for a new social agenda. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, p 2006
Nubi TO (2000) Housing finance in Nigeria: need for re-engineering. Ideal Habitat Coop Hous Initiat. http://www.housingfinance.org/pdfstorage/Africa. Accessed 14 July 2012
Acquaye E (1985) A teleological review of the housing problem in developing countries. In: Onibokun P (ed) Housing in Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, Nigeria, pp 41–48
Uwadiegwu BO (2013) The determinants of the rate of housing deterioration in high density and slum areas of Nigerian Cities with particular reference to Enugu City. IOSR J Environ Sci Toxicol Food Technol 3(3):5–9
Iwuagwu BU (2017) Developing a model for improving housing conditions in urban slums of Abia State, Nigeria. Ph.D. dissertation, Imo State University, Owerri
Yahmane T (1967) Statistics: an introductory analysis, 2nd edn. Harper and Row, New York
Ikejiofor U (1999) The god that failed: a critique of public housing in Nigeria, 1975–1995. Habitat Int 23(2):177–188
Iwuagwu BU, Iwuagwu BC (2015) Local building materials: affordable strategy for housing the urban poor in Nigeria. Proced Eng 118(2015):42–49
Farrelly D (1984) The book of bamboo. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco
Iwuagwu BU, Azubuine CE (2015) Global warming versus green architecture: African experience. Proceedings of the international conference on IT, architecture and mechanical engineering (ICITAME’2015). Dubai UAE, May 2015
Iwuagwu BU, Onyegiri I (2016) Reducing global warming in Africa through traditional African architecture: challenges and the way forward. Proceedings of the 8th international conference on environmental science and technology. Houston, USA, June 2016
George CK (1999) Basic principles and methods of urban and regional planning. Gen Limited, Libra
Iwuagwu BU, Onyegiri I, Iwuagwu BC (2016) Urban slum development in Nigeria: a Study of Aba South local government area of Abia State. Int J Manag Appl Sci 2(8):48–52
Olotuah AO, Ajenifujah AO (2009) Architectural education and housing provision in Nigeria. J Cent Educ Built Environ Trans 6(1):86–102
Oladapo AA (2006) A study of tenant maintenance awareness, responsibility and satisfaction in institutional housing in Nigeria. Int J Strateg Prop Manag 10(1):217–231
Ibem EO, Anosike MN, Azuh DE (2011) Challenges in public housing provision in the post-independence era in Nigeria. Int J Hum Sci 8(2):421–443
Ademiluyi IA (2010) Public housing delivery strategies in Nigeria: a historical perspective of policies and programmes. J Sustain Dev Afr 12(6):153–161
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Iwuagwu, B.U., Nwankwo, S.I. Increasing housing affordability in Aba metropolis: a panacea for healthy living environment. J Build Rehabil 3, 4 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41024-018-0033-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41024-018-0033-5