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Affordable Housing Provision in Kano North Western Nigeria : The Imperative for the Creation of Sustainable City

Housing has been the basic need of mankind providing not only shelter but also private and dynamic setting for much social activities and interactions. The problem of housing has become an everyday discussion in all quarters of the public and private sectors of the African countries. It has became glaringly clear that most of the urban population lives in dehumanizing housing environment while those that have access to average housing do so at a very high cost. The expensive nature of housing compels low income and middle income earners to resort to live in dilapidated housing and structures that are often congested and unfit for normal liveability. Provision of housing requires huge capital outlay and the financial requirement on the part of the developers both in the private and public sectors for the provision of housing is to say the least enormous. The major problem confronting planners and urban managers is the emergence of slums and shanty towns which are solely fuelled by the inability of the majority of the populace to afford decent and qualitative housing. This paper examines the causal factors responsible for difficult access to decent and affordable housing in Kano State. Data for the study was collected via administration of questionnaires to residents of three areas mostly affected by poor planning namely, Kurna, Dorayi and Brigade. A total of 126 respondents were selected via systematic sampling technique. The major finding of the study reveals that high cost and difficult access to land, incessant raise in cost of building materials, difficult access to finance and poverty are the major factors that made housing unaffordable to majority of the populace. The study concludes by recommending ways to ensure the provision of affordable housing both by the public and private body so as to serve as an avenue for the creation of sustainable cities in Nigeria.