Affordable house is less than N1m – Millard Fuller Foundation

Low-income housing solution provider, the Millard Fuller Foundation (MFF) has adopted the American definition of affordable housing where it is said that housing is affordable only if the median income – that is if 50 percent of the population of the locality can afford to buy. By this definition, MFF has developed studio apartments in […]

Low-income housing solution provider, the Millard Fuller Foundation (MFF) has adopted the American definition of affordable housing where it is said that housing is affordable only if the median income – that is if 50 percent of the population of the locality can afford to buy.
By this definition, MFF has developed studio apartments in Luvu Madaki, Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State where a unit goes for N1.65 million.
Speaking at a forum in Abuja penultimate Friday under the theme “Affordable housing: Bridging the 17 million housing deficit – building for low-income earners”, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MFF, Mr Sam Odia urged Nigerians to stop craving to own three-bedroom flat and opt for studio apartment.
He said, “It’s our inability to come to terms with our present economic conditions and cut our coat according to our size…we must each have a three-bedroom house even though we can’t even afford a studio apartment.”
Odia maintained that “affordable housing is not a duplex affordable to only a select and privileged few earning incomes of over N10 million per annum.”
The developer said 77 percent of Nigerians earn N40,000 per month so they can only afford to buy houses valued less than a million naira.
Odia said the 17 million housing deficit presents a N17 trillion business opportunity for investors.
He said although construction materials are expensive, there are cost-saving elements that make construction less costly, adding that construction of many houses will bring down cost of houses.
The chairman, Board of Directors of MFF, Solomon Maiwada Yero announced that MFF had launched a new campaign, My Fuller House to encourage homeownership amongst low-income earners. He said the 400-unit Grand Luvu Estate developed by MFF is now selling for N1.65 million.
Gbenga Alamu who represented TrustBond Mortgage Bank called on government to make land easily available to developers.
The representative of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) Usman Nasidi urged Nigerian workers to strive to own homes, not to wait till retirement. He lamented that many do hope to build with retirement benefits only to realize that it hardly works that way. He acknowledged that  the housing model done by MFF has excited FMBN.
Horst Bauernfeind of German Cooperation Agency (GIZ) praised MFF initiative. He regretted that the private sector has not discovered the need for affordable housing.