A FRAMEWORK FOR THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF SOCIAL (PUBLIC) HOUSING ESTATES IN NIGERIA: A PILOT STUDY

Abstract

Stakeholders’ involvement; effective building maintenance; and appropriate estate
\nmanagement practices are essential for social (public) housing estates to be sustainable.
\nTherefore, it is asserted that if these concepts are properly aligned, the issues related to
\nhousing management and lack of supply of social (public) housing estates in the Niger
\nDelta region of Nigeria would be reduced. Sustainable management of social housing
\nestates could provide comfortable, cheap to maintain, good quality homes that
\ncontribute over their whole service life-cycle to the social, economic and environmental
\nwellbeing of a neighbourhood. The accessibility of appropriate housing is a measure
\nthat defines the echelon of a country’s development. However, evidence such as the
\nextent of unoccupied, unfinished, vandalized, and abandoned social housing estates in
\nthe Niger Delta indicates that the availability and management of decent social housing
\nestates is lacking because the post-construction management practice is not as good as it
\nshould be. This paper sets out the context for research in this topic area and reports the
\nresults from an exploratory pilot study that involved a series of semi-structured
\ninterviews (15 Nr) with expert practitioners and other supply side stakeholders in the
\nmanagement of social (public) housing estates in the Niger Delta. The interviews
\nexplored current practice in relation to: sustainability; stakeholder involvement; housing
\nmaintenance; and housing management. The findings indicated that there was a need for
\na framework for the management of social housing estates in a more sustainable manner
\nto be developed. The results also showed that such a framework needed to adopt the
\nprinciples of sustainability in combination with effective building maintenance and
\ngood estate management practices. It is recommended that further work is undertaken
\nin this area to further refine this framework to ensure its applicability to practice in
\nother emergent developing countries.