The Commissioner for Housing, Lagos State, Gbolahan Lawal, says the government has made it mandatory for facility managers to be engaged for the management of all existing and new state-owned housing estates.
Lawal made this known at a ceremony to hand over keys to 150 allottees under the Lagos State Government Rent-to-Own initiative.
He said the move became necessary to prevent housing estates across the state from degenerating into slums.
“Evidence of this abounds in many of the state government housing estates. Facility managers will ensure that the estates are well catered for and are in good, clean, hygienic and environmental friendly conditions,” he said.
The commissioner noted that the country and Lagos in particular were presently in the throes of housing deficit occasioned by the demand for decent, secure and affordable housing, which was far higher than supply.
He stated, “In a bid to solve this problem and prevent the continuous emergence of slums, the administration of Governor AkinwunmiAmbode came up with the rent-to-own policy aimed at ensuring that all Lagosians, irrespective of income, status and affiliation, have access to decent and affordable housing.
“The handing over of keys to another batch of 150 people brings the number of allottees to 650 so far. What this implies is that a total number of 3,000 people have so far benefited from the scheme if calculated at an average of five persons per family. The state currently has about 5,008 housing units in 12 different locations across the state dedicated to the rent-to-own housing policy, which enables aspiring homeowners to pay five per cent of the value of the property and spread the balance over a period of 10 years.”
He said other initiatives put in place by the state government to make housing more readily available were the Rental Housing Programme, targeted at persons with irregular sources of income, who might be more interested in rental housing, or who were not able to meet the requirement of the five per cent commitment for rent-to-own; and the Lagos Affordable Public Housing initiative.
