Challenges of Rental Housing Affordability by Teachers in minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Affordable housing has become a serious and considerable challenge especially for low incomes households which resulted from continue growth and expansion of the urban centre. There has been a serious threat to rental accommodation in the urban areas especially to certain grade of workers whose income in most cases are based on their salaries. The challenge becomes not only to provide the houses but to make the houses affordable to the average Nigerian worker. The study examined the challenges of rental housing affordability by teachers in Minna, Niger state, Nigeria. Data were collected from 927 teachers between grade levels 07-17 in 20 purposively selected public secondary schools within Minna metropolis. Information were obtained on the annual income, property rental value and challenges of rental housing affordability by teachers in the study area. Appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in analyzing data collected. The study revealed that there was a positive significant correlation between annual income and property rental value of the teachers, which implies that as long as there is increase in annual income of teachers, property rental value of teachers in the study area will increase. Lastly, high cost of building materials among others is the strongest predictor of rental value and thus a key contributor to explaining the level of rental housing affordability of teachers in the study area. Among other recommendations to reduce the rental values of properties occupied by teachers in the study area, government should implement existing staff housing programme. While implementing this programme, various income groups should be put into consideration. Emphasis should also be placed on low and medium housing units specific for teachers. This will reduce the housing cost thus making it more affordable to many teachers.