The Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria (AHCN), umbrella body of all the housing corporations and related housing agencies in Nigeria, has called for the establishment of a Housing Development Fund (HDF) to help rescue the housing industry in the country, especially in the face of the current economic meltdown which has been aggravated by the banking crisis.

In a communique after its council meeting recently in Abuja, the association stated that the fund would serve as alternative to the real estate financing currently available in the country, noting that housing sector had remained inactive for the past two months due to paucity of funds occasioned by the global economic meltdown.

It urged the Federal Government to enforce the Pension Reform Act 2004, especially as it concerns real estate investment in the country, to ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Act to make funds available for housing industry.
AHCN charged local government authorities to assist state governments’ housing agencies and private developers in the area of land acquisition for housing development at locations that would be strategic enough to attract buyers, noting that  “this will encourage development of estates in local government areas and assist in promoting housing stock in Nigeria.

The association also called on local councils to help facilitate the formation of housing cooperatives among the people in the council areas, as a way of attracting loanable funds and thus ease the acquisition of homes.

The communique also urged the local councils to support housing agencies and developers with the provision of infrastructural facilities in housing estates to be developed in the grassroots, and regard such as their social responsibility by making such houses so built affordable to the people, as well as attract investors to participate in the scheme.

In addition, it called on all the three tiers of government to identify and develop local building materials all over the country and encourage estate developers and project specifiers to ensure the utilisation of such materials for housing development, adding that this will ensure the reduction of cost of housing delivery.