We tend to limit “affordable housing” to only government-subsidized or rent-controlled housing.

However, this perspective overlooks a critical reality that even if a million housing units are constructed, many will still lack access or affordability due to structural challenges in the housing market.

Affordable housing solutions must go beyond subsidies or rent control to empower people economically and socially.
We must teach/enable people to “catch their own fish”


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To make housing affordable without low-cost housing, these five fundamental pillars or conditions must be established:

👉 Infrastructure development.
Infrastructure must be planned and developed sustainably to connect physical, social, and economic dimensions.

👉 Economic empowerment.
Income growth and job creation are crucial. Even with good infrastructure, people will still not be able to afford housing without adequate income or economic opportunities.

👉 Access to finance for both supply (developers) and demand (homebuyers) sides.
And to leverage familiar frameworks such as cooperative societies, NGOs & PPPs to help finance trickle down to the grassroot

👉 Inclusive planning.
Without a participatory/inclusive planning framework, infrastructure, economic empowerment, and finance efforts will not connect.
Planning must engage the community, educate stakeholders, and promote income-responsive land use and housing development to ensure equitable outcomes.

👉 Self-help empowerment & social responsibility.
Even when income isn't enough to afford housing, access can be improved by empowering people to help themselves, to leverage communal relationships and collective action…
While government and citizens must engage collaboratively.

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But despite the simplicity of these pillars, implementing them has been difficult in Nigeria.

A detour…

A group at University College London (UCL) in 2011 developed the COM-B model as the conditions necessary for change:
C - Capability to Change
O - Opportunity for Change
M - Motivation for Change

Relevance?
While Nigeria stands well with ‘C’ and ‘O’...
I mean, Nigeria’s large population and the huge federal & different states budgets provide the ability and opportunity to implement reforms

However, ‘M’ is where friction exists.

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(Now, back to the matter.)
The critical missing factor is, how/where motivation between government and citizens is often misaligned or weak.
Because, while citizens are motivated by their need for affordable housing (or a better life), governments’ motivation is revenue generation.

This mismatch results in:
📍 Lack of alignment, and
📍 Accountability.
📍 It undermines responsibility, and
📍 Inclusive governance... Which are critical for sustainable transformation.

Without these 4, investments and policies will not yield the desired outcomes.

And this is what makes social responsibility, (requiring citizens to be law-abiding and governments to be transparent and accountable)...
Not just a supplementary pillar for housing affordability, but a core enabler of the success of any (housing or otherwise) policy.

As “it takes two to tango.”