The President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), TPL Olutoyin Ayinde, FNITP has commended Family Homes Funds for its concerted efforts at affordable housing delivery across the country.
According to the NITP President, the commendation became necessary considering the efforts Family Homes Funds is making towards addressing the housing deficit in the country by delivering low cost housing to Nigerians across various states.
Ayinde described FHFL as one of the key stakeholders in the built and construction sector who has done fantastically well in the area of housing delivery, particularly affordable housing in Nigeria.
While commending the leadership of the institution for its spirit of sportsmanship despite its limitations, he expressed optimism for greater impacts.
It can be recalled that in 2018, the Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL) – an establishment of the Federal Government of Nigeria – became fully operational, kickstarting the mission to provide affordable homes for families on low-income, with the complimentary responsibility of creating jobs and promoting local production of building materials.
Getting off the mark, FHFL had to contend with obvious barriers to affordable housing including high inflation, access to land, cost of construction, and limited purchasing power on the demand side.
Nonetheless, the first initiative was the development of 2,304 homes across five states – Ogun, Kano, Delta, Kaduna and Nasarawa, which are today referred to as the FHFL Legacy Estates.
Few years down the line, through partnerships with several state governments, FHFL has financed the development of 13,014 homes, creating about 60,000 direct and indirect jobs in the process, with a pipeline of additional 20,000 homes due in 2024.
With the ambition of creating spaces of modern living, the homes are with necessary amenities and within areas of easy access.
Now with footprints across every region of the country, FHFL can look back and see the difference it has made, but not without losing focus of the massive need ahead, and how challenging it really is. However, lessons from the past will now prove vital in confronting the future.
With the study of this pattern, FHFL began to support the low-income families by partnering with selected mortgage banks to introduce payment options like installment and flexible long-term mortgages.
The recent commendation is coming off the back of a courtesy visit of NITP to Family Homes Funds in which NITP assure FHFL of continued partnership and collaboration that is geared towards housing delivery and certified sustainable planning requirement for optimum efficiency.
