Family Homes Fund — Buhari’s Government Building Affordable Homes for Nigerians
According to the United Nations (2015), Nigeria has an annual population growth rate of 2.8% and an annual urban population growth rate of 4.7%. This means that housing infrastructure needs to take front row in terms of welfare priorities. Globally, about 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing, while over 100 million are homeless. Nigeria hosts an uncomfortably large percentage of these two, with over 100 million Nigerians considered to live in substandard housing. Nigeria’s housing problems are severe; even by continental parameters. Of the standard housing available either for sale or rent, average Nigerians — low to middle income earners could not easily afford it.
Public housing projects were tried out in some European countries and the United States in the 1930s, but only became widespread globally after World War II. A research recently conducted puts the country’s current housing deficit at about 17 million as announced by the MD Federal Mortgage Bank (FMB). This facilitated the need for federal and private estate developers to search for affordable housing for all Nigerians. Considering the housing deficit, the Federal Government through the effort of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government as well as the private sector have taken it upon themselves to find lasting sustainable solutions to bridge the housing deficit in Nigeria. The tool to effect this solution is the Family Homes Fund. The Family Homes Fund is a Private Public Partnership (PPP) between the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority as founding shareholders.
This Fund will address the country’s housing deficit and also create about 1.5 million jobs in the process. The Fund is structured as a Real Estate Investment Trust and will be professionally managed to catalyze funds from the private sector, pension funds, insurance funds, multilateral agencies and impact investors. Through strategic partnerships with various players in the housing sector; supportive State Governments, developers and International partners/agencies that can provide technical support and financing for project implementation and some of the world’s main Development Finance Institutions, the Fund has an ambitious commitment to facilitate and supply 500,000 homes by 2023. In Nasarawa State, 582 home units has been completed and in Kano, there are 757 homes at various stages of completion. Also, 4,000 homes are currently under construction in Kaduna, Ogun, and Delta. Similar construction works would soon commence in Lagos, FCT, Akwa-Ibom and other States of the Federation.
The Fund will be the largest affordable housing-focused fund in Sub-Sahara Africa leveraging its significant capital (N1trillion in total by 2023) to facilitate access to affordable housing for millions of Nigerians on low to medium income groups. Providing comfortable homes for families within this bracket is only one of the main aims of the Fund. Its key priority is to take advantage of the opportunity a large scale house building programme offers in regards to creating sustainable jobs for the unemployed quota of the country while offering families security, improved quality of life and hope.
According to a statement released by the management of Family Homes Fund, it is estimated that jobs in various inputs into the house building process, including doors, windows and tiles, roofing materials, blocks, paving stones and paint, among others would be created. There is opportunity to incubate large numbers of small-scale industries (SMEs) in the course of the project thus creating significant employment. The FHF would catalyze investments by other players in the housing sector, with a projected impact on families, especially women, who often carry the biggest burden in poor households, and young people.
Through a combination of activities, the Family Homes Fund aims would be making a real difference to quality of lives and the economy. To achieve this, the FHF would be carried out in three priorities, policy, partnerships and people. These three priorities would ensure the Fund achieves its goals — both long term and short term. For Policy, in its implementation, the Fund would support ongoing dialogues around development of local contents framework for inputs into the house building process. A long-term objective is to ensure that up to 80 per cent of manufactured inputs are locally produced.
As far as partnerships go, the FHF intends to forge and foster partnerships with agencies in the building industry and other related industries. The Fund will work with existing and new partners in the building materials industry, offering where appropriate, guaranteed purchase commitments, thus enabling critical access to capital for investment. Much more can be achieved collectively than with a single player.
The current administration is investing directly in Nigerian people, especially the vulnerable groups. The National Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government is also yielding tremendous success, as many people are having access to the dividends of good governance. Through the recent investments made in the building industry, Nigerians whose income could not afford to live or build a modern house, will enjoy government’s intervention to live comfortably. Nigeria needs almost one million housing units annually and through these investments and the Fund at large, this can be achieved by 2023. The Fund offers a high return on investment in prime real estate while creating jobs in the housing industry. As Nigeria hosts one of the world’s fastest growing populations, it is only right that policies be put in place to cater to the teeming population while eliminating substandard housing in the country.
