FIABCI Nigeria Embarks On Affordable Housing Campaign

The Nigerian chapter of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) has commenced a campaign for affordable housing with the slogan: ‘The city we need is affordable’.

FIABCI Nigeria was on a panel at the recently concluded MIPIM conference discussing and sharing experiences of urban policy and housing delivery where it was represented by a past President of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr. Emeka Eleh.

The statement read in part, “FIABCI Nigeria is aggressively calling on private sector interest to partner us as we collectively proffer solutions to the problem of affordable housing. FIABCI, a global network of real estate professionals, including architects, builders, developers, urban planners, brokers, real estate lawyers, etc., is uniquely positioned to bring together all of the major global stakeholders in the real estate industry to propose solutions to meet the increasing demand for affordable housing within the world’s cities and to encourage the private sector to become involved by expanding activities and projects focused on affordable housing.

“Considering these perspectives, we decided to launch our 2016 World Urban Campaign in Dubai on January 10 of this year, with the slogan: ‘The city we need is affordable’. We will focus on sharing best formulas and practices from around the world. We hope that it will contribute to increase the supply of moderately-priced housing for rent and for sale for people working and living in cities.”

It added that the goal of the campaign was to find various ways to reduce, as quickly as possible, the current imbalance between the low supply and huge demand for moderately-priced housing units.

The federation added, “FIABCI plans to pin-point solutions to quickly reduce the current imbalance between the low supply and high demand for housing units; identify beneficial financing formulas, which will encourage investors and developers to embrace the campaign; and to take an active role in planning the cities of tomorrow equipped with affordable housing today.

“The campaign will also share new construction methods, materials, designs and innovations, which will reduce the time and cost of construction without sacrificing quality.

“Our campaign timetable includes open international contests to find the best solutions for financing, construction, architecture, design and urban planning between March 15 and May 1; selection of the best ideas, initiatives and practices by an international panel of experts from May 1 to 21; and presentation of the winning solutions at FIABCI’s 67th World Congress in Panama on May 26,” the federation added.

Other activities under the campaign include showcasing the best ideas and formulas gathered during the FIABCI urban campaign in Quito, Ecuador during the Habitat III Conference between October 16 and 19, 2016.

—Punchng