Resources, Process and Challenges of User-Initiated Transformation of Public Housing Units in Lagos, Nigeria

The literature on user-initiated transformation (UIT) of housing suggests the actuality of the phenomenon as an apparent trend in public housing estates in developing countries, despite the legal and planning implications, and the often negative official attitude towards it. Studies also highlight the significance of economic motivation in UIT. This paper therefore examines the resources for UIT in terms of the sources of finance, cost, and duration, as well as the process and challenges encountered. Systematic sampling method was employed to select 315 housing units from 8938 units in 3 purposively selected low-income estates (the largest) for questionnaire administration. Findings revealed that the main sources of finance for UIT were individual savings (36.8%) and Cooperative societies’ loans (35.8%); while 49.5% of respondents expended N400,000-600,000 to transform to their housing. There was also a significant relationship between cost of UIT and income level. More than 64% of the transformations were completed within 1 year and 34% within the second year. Much of the UIT (65.3%) was by direct labour and 32.3% using contractors. Respondents’ perception of desired spaces not provided emphasized the need for shops, storage, guest room and visitor’s toilet. Insufficient finances and unavailable materials were the key challenges encountered in the transformation process. The study concluded on the need to review the legal, planning, policy and financial frameworks for public housing, to encourage users’ participation and incorporate design guidelines that are sensitive to residents’ socio-economic realities and aspirations as reflected in UIT, through a more acceptable and coordinated approach. Keywords: challenges, process, public housing, resources, user-initiated transformatio