Contemporary Shelter in the Built Environment: A Comparative Review of Social Housing Schemes in Selected European and African Nations

Abstract

Social Housing remains highly essential in providing affordable shelter in urban and peri-urban settlements. However, pressures from liberalisation, public expenditures, and privatisation continue to threaten its availability. This paper reviews contemporary social housing trends and compares Europe’s established social housing scheme to Africa’s emerging schemes. This was achieved by identifying the similarities between social housing in the UK and the Netherlands and social Housing in Nigeria and South Africa and identifying the differences between them. Relevant literature was reviewed to give a detailed but straightforward account of the Netherlands, UK, South Africa, and Nigeria based on allocation policy, target occupants, ownership scheme, mode of finance, and the challenges faced. The studies conclude that there are more similarities between social Housing in Europe and Africa than differences. However, the most fundamental difference is the type of challenges they face. The challenges observed in Europe’s social housing schemes are social problems such as segregation and bad public image. In contrast, Africa’s social housing challenges are socio-economical in terms of lack of funds, poor planning, and implementation of policies. The outcome from this study is targeted at promoting the implementation of sustainable social housing schemes at the policy level.