By Monsuru Olowoopejo

AS Lagos residents await the commencement of allocation of housing units under the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme, Lagos HOMS, Governor Babatunde Fashola has said tax card and the temporary resident’s registration card are some of the criteria that would be used for allotment of houses under the Scheme.

The State government had during the celebration of 100 days of the present administration, disclosed that over  5000  housing units have been completed so far and would be available to the public in the pilot scheme.

Fashola who disclosed the allocation criteria after inspecting various ongoing projects in the Kosofe and Ikorodu axis, assured residents that the Government will start the allocation of the houses this year.

“I know that people have been very anxious, but they should bear with us because it is not just about handing them houses, we want to give them homes and there is a distinction between the two. So we are closing up now and almost done so that it would be a lifelong asset. For us, it is just not about building houses and giving it to people.

We want to use this opportunity to solve that problem once and for all in Lagos so that the next government will only continue from where we stopped. So we are ensuring that there is enough supply of houses so that once we start, we don’t stop again and people can now really see hope that they will get on that ladder and become a house owners.”

He said. “All the conditions that will take us there include payment of tax, residency card, so you must go and register. We won’t build houses with tax payers’ money in Lagos and then allocate it to people leaving outside Lagos. Those are one of the reasons why I said people should register; people should pay their taxes and so on. As we progress, you would see what this is really all about”, he explained.