The term
housing affordability
has come into popular usage in
the last two decades replacing
housing need
at the centre of debate about the provision of
adequate housing for all. This is largely
necessitated by the need to deal
with the increasing evidence of
housing crisis (housing market
failures) brought about by current pro-market re
forms within the housing sector in many countries.
Despite its growing relevance, there is still no
common consensus on how best to conceive and
measure housing affordability. However, it is incr
easingly becoming evident that a more integrated
approach to using different housing affordability meas
ures could provide better
analytical platform
in housing affordability research and policy discourse.
This paper advocates for composite approach
methodologies that approxi
mate effectively the
varied dimensions of housing affordability into an aggregate affordability measure. Such an
approach was subsequently employed to assess the magnitude of Nigerian urban housing
affordability problems. The technique modified and recombined both the shelter-poverty
affordability measure and housing expenditure-to-inco
me ratio (adjusted with housing quality) into
a composite affordability index using relevant
data from the Nigeria Living Standards Survey
2003-2004 (NLSS) database.
Findings indicate that the aggregate approach capt
ures the diverse aspects of housing affordability
more than conventional housing affordability ratios.
Debilitating contextual issues of poverty and
poor quality housing characterising mo
st developing countries were al
so captured and
factored into
the aggregate affordability measure. Thus, it ex
poses the wider dimension of housing affordability
problems (especially in developi
ng countries). At a broader le
vel, such conc
eption of housing
affordability could contribute to sharpen the curr
ent housing policy reform orientation debates in
order to minimise situations where policy refo
rms options are implemented in many developing
countries without their fundamental premise a
ppearing to be thought th
rough both in terms of
import and implications