Spain presents good lesson for Nigeria on tackling housing crisis, soaring rent

From across the globe, governments of countries that have housing and rent challenges are coming up with solutions that Nigeria can copy to deal with its housing and rent crisis.

While some countries approve cash to tackle the crisis directly through increased housing production, others provide incentives for developers through tax holidays or special interest rates on housing loans, or waivers for imported building materials.

Spain is one of those countries that is taking these measures. The country’s government recently approved a sweeping plan to alleviate its housing problem. €7 billion has been approved to tackle soaring rents and housing crisis in the country.

This is a good lesson for Nigeria, which has a similar housing problem. Like Nigeria, the country is also preparing for general elections next year. Approving that huge amount of money to solve housing problem is also aimed at addressing one of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s main political vulnerabilities ahead of the elections.

This also presents a good lesson for President Tinubu on strategies for winning elections, not the political gerrymandering being employed that is choking the political space and suffocating the populace.

In Spain, just like in Nigeria, rising rental and housing costs are currently pricing many Spaniards out of the market, despite a recent economic boom where incomes have failed to keep up with the escalating prices.

Increased tourism and population growth in cities, often driven by immigration, have further strained housing supply. The country’s new plan, valued at €7 billion, is designed to triple government investment in public housing over the next four years.

“It is a significant step forward. For the first time in decades, there is a serious budgetary commitment,” said Raluca Budian, associate director of the Observatory for Decent Housing at the Madrid-based Esade business school.

About 40 percent of the money will be earmarked for growing the public housing supply, which Spain lacks compared to the European average, while 30 percent will be set aside for property renovations, the government said.

That will include funds for making homes more energy-efficient and building in depopulated parts of the country. The rest will go toward subsidies, with a focus on young people.

Similarly, in Canada, where housing crisis, a few years ago, pushed its people to take shelter in odd places, including cemeteries, has also taken steps to address the problem.

The country has taken steps to build more homes. The government of the country, unlike the Nigerian government, has committed to constructing 3.9 million homes over the next seven years to meet the demand for affordable housing.

In Nigeria, Tinubu’s government, which promised to build one million housing units every year, with all the noise around Renewed Hope Cities and Estates, has no record of even 50,000 housing units it has delivered, three years after coming to power.

The Canadian government has come up with incentives for developers to encourage them to construct more affordable housing, including tax breaks and support for rental construction.

In sharp contrast, the Nigerian government does not give any developer any incentive. Before now, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), an agency of government, used to give what was called Estate Development Loan (EDL) with a special interest rate. But not anymore, and the result is an escalating housing and rent crisis in the country.