A qualitative approach to investigate low-cost housing policy provision in Edo State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Over the years, the Nigerian Governments have made several attempts to address the deficit in low-cost housing (LCH) provision via various housing policies but failed. Thus, the need to investigate the encumbrances faced with the LCH policy and proffer pragmatic policy solutions so that low-income earners can gain access to homes in Edo State, Nigeria. A phenomenology type of qualitative research was adopted. To achieve this, 12 face-to-face interviews were conducted, and saturation accomplished. The data was validated via secondary sources, analysed by MAXQDA 2018 and supported with thematic analysis. The study found that the Edo State have admirable housing policy on paper but due to some challenges such as relaxed housing policy implementation, corruption, inadequate fund, ‘act of political will’ among others, implementation has been fruitless. As part of the practical implications, this paper would stir-up policymakers in the formulation of policies.

KEYWORDS:

• low-cost housing
• low-income earners
• qualitative approach

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Nigerian Tertiary Education Trust Fund support via Auchi Polytechnic for financial support. Also, the author is grateful to the various participants who magnanimously participated in this study. Their munificent assistance aided the author’s current understanding of the encumbrances facing Edo State LCH policy and proffer possible policy solutions. The author’s gratitude goes to the editor and anonymous reviewers whose review comments and suggestions greatly improved the quality of the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Nigerian Tertiary Education Trust Fund support 2012/2013.