Abstract
In Nigeria, the 1999 constitution recognises housing as a fundamental human right; hence it is imperative that Nigerians have access to decent and comfortable accommodation at affordable costs. This study examined housing affordability by Federal Civil Servants in Minna by analysing the average annual emoluments of federal civil servants and the annual rental values of houses occupied by them, and subsequently established the percentage of annual income spent on rent. A total of 200 federal civil servants spread across all grade levels were sampled. Simple descriptive statistic, likert scale, relative index and pearson product moment correlation were used to analyse collected data. Findings showed that federal civil servants in the study area spend between 7.3% and 23.8% of their annual income on rents. The study also revealed that civil servants’ level of income having a relative index of 0.96 is the major factor influencing the choice of residential accommodation by federal civil servants in the study area.It further revealed a strong positive correlation between their annual income and rental values of residential properties occupied by them. The sampled respondents expressed varied levels of satisfaction with the houses they occupy, with as much as 59% being unsatisfied with their rented housing units; these were attributed to poor housing quality, small sizes of housing units and densely populated neighbourhoods, among others. Housing Affordability Index was also adopted and used to determine housing affordability levels in the study area.The study recommended a home ownership scheme to enable federal civil servants purchase or build their own houses and pay conveniently because all respondents desired to own their own houses.
Highlights
Man as a social being have needs and among these needs, three have been identified as basic and important
It has been argued that a maximum of 30% of household income spent on housing be used as a yard stick for measuring housing affordability across Europe and elsewhere (Andrews, 1998; Aribigbola, 2011; Pittini, 2012).what is termed affordability problem in a given place or nation might not be applicable in other places and this is for no other reason but for the dynamics in economic and social variations.the increase in the prices of conventional building materials which are imported and the fluctuating economy is contributing to the ailing problem of housing affordability (Gbadeyan, 2011)
The results showed that levels 13 and above, and level 17 of the state and federal civil servants respectively were able to have access to what may be adjudged as decent housing
Summary
Man as a social being have needs and among these needs, three have been identified as basic and important. Housing is an integral part of human settlement that fulfils basic need and has a profound impact on the quality of life, health, welfare, as well as productivity of man; large proportion of urban residents in developing countries do not have access to decent housing at affordable cost (Ibem & Amole, 2010). As observed by Mitlin and Satterthwaite (2007) and quoted in Ayeniyo (2011), by year 2000, some 900 million urban dwellers in low and middle income households worldwide were “living in poverty” suffering from poor quality housing, insecure tenure and/or inadequate basic services. It has been argued that a maximum of 30% of household income spent on housing be used as a yard stick for measuring housing affordability across Europe and elsewhere (Andrews, 1998; Aribigbola, 2011; Pittini, 2012).what is termed affordability problem in a given place or nation might not be applicable in other places and this is for no other reason but for the dynamics in economic and social variations.the increase in the prices of conventional building materials which are imported and the fluctuating economy is contributing to the ailing problem of housing affordability (Gbadeyan, 2011). Aribigbola (2013) and Aribigbola & Ayeniyo (2012) haven reviewed past www.ccsenet.org/jms
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