Editorial —
“The lack of affordable housing stands in the way of economic productivity and undermines the fundamental premise that full-time workers should be able to achieve a decent standard of living for themselves and their families.” – Bruce Katz and Margery Austin Turner (2008).
Housing aims at focusing on human needs, meant to keep life moving. When constructing our homes, they are sometimes guided by social, cultural, traditional and factors that produce comfort and satisfaction. It is important to create an environment that suits our needs and culture.
The overall costs which also include factors like building materials, the urge to make quick profit, taking short corners to cut cost, inflation rate, cost of settling professionals and experts involved in designing and construction, through which houses get to the market, determine its affordability. As a result of these factors, where cost per unit of a building is excessively high to meet the expectations of owners, it creates a margin for few persons to stand a chance of affording these houses.
It is glaring to note that low-income individuals or families are not contextually pictured in the formal housing market. That is to say that due to their financial state and class in the society, many of them find it difficult to cope with the payment module in mortgaging or in payment of decent homes especially in urban areas. This dampens their aspirations to live in well decorated, furnished, decent, affordable homes and becomes an almost never to be fulfilled dream.
Hence, unaffordable housing is one of the major causes of increase in slums in the country.
Shelter affordability is one of the most important factors in housing but, despite the various efforts made to improve housing conditions in the country, affordability troubles still persist.
Mostly, housing problems include the lack of affordable housing that is supposed to be meant for those on low or lower income categories. By the term “low or lower income categories”, it is important we understand that we have head of families or majority of a household, individuals who are not gainfully employed but are involved in small jobs that bring incomes not really up to a level that can improve sustainability at home, and those who are employed but, whose income does not match the level of their work inputs to take care of certain household needs.
Those in the ‘low income’ cadre are seen in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. They include workers (graduates and non-graduates) employed by one man businesses, traders, junior public workers in the civil service sector. The ‘lower’ income category consists of commercial motorcycle riders,artisans,unskilled construction workers and taxi drivers,e.t.c.
In respect to workers in the low income cadre, concerns are raised as regards housing affordability, especially the ones in close proximity to their places of work.
It has shown that many of these workers, mostly the ones working in cities, would wish that their homes are closer because more challenges they face include high rent in places close to their work areas. They would appreciate affordable accommodations in locations in close proximity with their places of assignments.
It is however, recommended that the government and private employees should provide supportive measures for junior staff under their payrolls, who are on low wages, with means towards renting or building or acquiring affordable housing in good locations to improve their working conditions. This can be done through collaborative measures between the public sector and private sectors.
Without doubts, old age is one of the most difficult periods in the life of any living being. However, it should not be understood to be a negative process. It’s a long period of time in people’s life as he or pass through phases, stages and changes of life and as it happens, they start relying on assistance to do what they were quite capable of handling previously. They start needing more attention and care like babies. If they are adequately, properly taken care of, life will still be meaningful for these sets of persons.
But, where there are worsen inadequacies of social infrastructures to care for the elderly, life becomes more difficult, especially, when using the Nigerian society as a reference point where there is no difference in difficult standard of living experienced between the young and the aged.
The age of retirement in Nigeria which has been conceptualized as an old age, is 65. But, this cannot be said to be the yardstick, as there are still variations among older people. One can still be 60 or 55 yet, behaves or acts like an old person.
Family care is one area of essential focus points the Nigerian government has terribly neglected, no proper planning for the aged, no constructed social institutions that would take care of their needs or reduce life problems for them as they age.
Even if we have such in the country like many would argue, are they really functioning optimally? Are they meeting the expected objectives they were made for? Research shows that in the country, there are some enactments made to protect the interest of the aged, like the National Social Development Policy (1989) but, no government agencies are seen to effectively execute this policy.
In our today’s society, pressure is put on children to care of their parents, when the government has done little or nothing in this regard. These are children that are struggling to make ends meet for themselves because the government neither care for their well-being nor that of their aged parents. Family members provide 80 to 90 percent of long-term care for their parents with the little resources at their disposal. So, why will the society not be in chaos when everyone will be looking to exceed his boundaries in trying to cater for his family?
Elder care is mostly provided through private care homes, not even the government, very peculiar to Nigeria. Old people in the country usually live on their own, few receive care at the homes of their children or relatives.
Having discussed family care for the aged, their needs extend to other key areas of life that includes housing. They need this so that they can be able to retire into their own homes when they may not have that strength to work like they use to in time past. This makes life more stress-free for them as it reduces some burdens not only on them but, their children who have their immediate families to fend for. This is what a responsible state should have and pursue as one of its ways of serving the society.
Painfully, the implementation of rightful care for aged to provide one of the necessities of life like decent homes for the elderly appear to be a no man’s business in this country, there is very little or no implementation of such. Housing units More units are needed for the aged but not likely to be forthcoming due to the government’s unconcerned attitude or budgetary limits.
It is time for the government to begin considering the housing needs of the elderly or start fiercely incorporating housing plans for the masses as they age. They could do more or be more serious with the National Housing Fund (NHF).
