The issue of housing the urban populace especially the less privilege part of the
society is one of the major challenges facing mankind in the twenty first century.
Studies by various authors have shown that housing problem is worldwide however
it is of greater scale in the developing countries around the world such as Nigeria.
This is due to rapid, one-directional (rural - urban), unbalanced and unplanned
urbanization. In an attempt to tackle the challenges associated with housing the less
privilege of the societies in Nigeria, the public sector has introduced and
implemented various affordable housing programs and policies with little success.
Numerous researches on affordable housing have been undertaken across the nation.
These studies have generally addressed economic sustainability implications of
affordable housing (issues such as fiscal implication, housing finance, etc) with less
emphasis on social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. However, if the
challenges of affordable and sustainable housing in Nigeria are to be addressed, the
analysis should be expanded to include all the three dimensions of sustainability:
economy, environment, and social dimensions. Therefore this research is based on
the analysis of different affordable housing schemes implemented by both
governments at state and federal levels in Yola, examining the socio-economic and
environmental impacts i.e. who have access to these housing schemes, how
affordable they are, challenges associated with these types of housing schemes and
provide possible solutions to the challenges identified by focusing on sustainability
in affordable housing.
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Using questionnaire survey and indicators developed from literature reviews on
green buildings and affordable housing, this analysis evaluates four case studies in
Yola. Results indicate that due to inadequate availability of housing inputs (land,
finance, infrastructure, labor and materials), lack of diversity (in terms of housing
types and socio-economic diversity of households), improper location, inefficient
transport facilities and lack of user participation, the case studies are unsustainable
hence unaffordable.