Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, has advised young workers facing high rental costs to consider living with their parents or relatives, or sharing accommodation with others until they are financially stronger.
Hamzat made the suggestion during an interview with Nigeria Info FM on Thursday while discussing the difficulties faced by low-income workers trying to secure accommodation in Lagos.
Responding to a question about how a 22-year-old earning N100,000 monthly could afford a flat costing about N1m a year, the deputy governor said young people should choose housing based on what they can comfortably afford.
“Don’t let us misunderstand ourselves as a people. We are cultural people. Do you understand? So, if I start work as a young person and I’m not married, a lot of us live with our parents. A lot of us live with our cousins,” Hamzat said.
“You know, go to Turkey, for example, and see how young people also live.”
He stressed that young workers should not feel pressured to immediately rent self-contained apartments or other expensive accommodation when their earnings could not support such expenses.
“So, if you don’t start from the top self-contained, you don’t start from the top. You start from the average depending on,” the deputy governor said.
Hamzat also recommended that workers avoid spending an excessive portion of their salaries on rent, saying housing costs should leave enough money for food, transport and other necessities.
“In fact, if you spend more than 40 per cent of your income on rent, it is too high because you must eat, you must buy clothes, you must do transportation,” he said.
On home ownership, he said Lagos was encouraging residents to use mortgage financing rather than relying on large one-off payments to purchase houses.
“But, you know, the challenge is we cannot continue to buy houses the way we buy rice and yam. Do you understand? So, we must buy properties using a mortgage, and that’s why we have a mortgage board in Lagos,” Hamzat said.
He explained that the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency number would help establish residents’ identity, address and employment details as part of the assessment for housing finance.
“So, that’s why we said people must have LASRRA number, so we can know that, okay, you live in Lagos. This is where you live. This is your address. This is where you work. So that there is a credit bill that checks everything that says, okay, you can pay,” he said.
Giving an example of a N7m property, Hamzat said a prospective homeowner could make a 10 per cent deposit and pay the remaining amount over a decade.
“So, if a flat in Bisedi, which is seven million naira, you pay 10 per cent with 700,000, and over 10 years, you are able to pay monthly,” he said.
He added that repayment amounts could be adjusted according to an individual’s earnings.
“Some people pay 25,000 monthly or 35,000, whatever it is, depending on your income,” Hamzat said.
The deputy governor said the mortgage system would provide an alternative for residents who could not afford to purchase homes outright.
“That is the way to go because we know that a lot of people will not be able to afford to pay a one-shot deal,” he said.
He further advised young people to start with smaller homes and improve their housing situation as their income and savings increase.
“But the bottom line is, like I said, the culture of ability to save, so that if people see that you can save money, then I can give you a property.
“It doesn’t have to be, if you are a young person, you can start with one bedroom or even a self-contained, like you explained,” he said.
Hamzat acknowledged that solving the housing problem would also require better incomes and improvements in the wider economy.
“What is important is we must also build our economy in such a way that people earn better, you understand, so that everybody can be uplifted, and that is the bottom line,” he said.
He said reducing the pressure from rising living costs would also make it easier for residents to manage their housing expenses and plan for the future.