Members of Real Estate Developers’ Association of Nigeria, (REDAN), have been tasked to live up to the expectations of late Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande’s vision on affordability in housing delivery.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc , Mr Kehinde Ogundimu, made the appeal at the Third Jakande Housing Lecture Series, (JHLS) on “Low-income housing in a period of uncertainty” held in Lagos.
He said the annual lecture series present a moment of deep reflection for stakeholders and leaders of housing development agencies, real estate developers, policy makers and government at both national and state levels to ensure affordability while providing housing for all.
According to him, “we must think about the costs of our housing development that we are championing in our various spheres of influence as housing leaders. ” How much efforts are we making towards ensuring that the houses we finance and build fits the Jakande affordability index.
“I believe that it is through this industy-wide commitment to deliver houses that low-income earners can afford to own houses, that the memory of Alhaji Jakande will be best served.”
Ogundimu noted that Jakande raised the bar and stakeholders in the building and real estate sector have tarried in meeting this goal.
He lauded the historic affordable housing project to deliver 500,000 affordable homes in 2024 that target low-income earners under the National Economic Sustainability Project, (NESP), noting that the pricing and mode of accessory these houses fit Jakande affordability index.
According to him, “building a robust housing finance ecosystem to promote commercial mortgages is also important to affordable home ownership”, stressing that this is the area Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc is focussing.
He said the challenge of achieving housing quality, safety and affordability is daunting but not insurmountable when ” the vision is clear and the will is firm’, adding that building for low-income earners is not only an humanitarian right but also a health, security, and existential matter.
He commended REDAN for putting together the lecture series which has positioned the association as an umbrella body for estate developers who are critical to the delivery of quality housing stock development in the country.
He stated that REDAN occupies a very strategic position as a stakeholder in the housing market.
