Association Seeks Housing Sector Reform

The Rivers State
Cooperative Communication, Transport and Investment Association (RCCTIA), has urged the Rivers State and the Federal Government to introduce a reform in the housing sector, that would ensure provision of sufficient houses for low-income earners.
President of the association, Mr Abel Echionwu, who spoke to The Tide on the issue, noted that houses were very much needed in the suburbs, but that real attention had not been given to its demand.
He said that some agencies of government both at State and Federal levels such as the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) had for about 15 years now sourced funds through banks and pre-sales subscriptions to build houses, but that government had not really shown keen interest on it.
Echionwn stated that houses built by the FHA should be affordable to low-income earners and appealed to Federal Government to enhance the efficiency of the authorities in the housing delivery.
He regretted however that efforts made by many estate developers in housing provision were focused at and executed for high income earners in the urban centres.
The group’s President also stated that an assessment made on the activities of the Rivers State Housing and Property Development Authority (RSHPDA) has shown that the authority has not really delivered on its mandate, saying that they still battle on how to secure mortgage finance to fund development activities.
Echionwu also told The Tide that many civil servants had not benefitted from their contributions to the National Housing Fund domiciled at the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).
He, therefore, urged government to evolve policy that will make mortgage funds very much available to developers, to accelerate housing delivery.

Corlins Walter