Engaging the Concept of Resilience in Housing Delivery Approach in Nigeria

The rapidly increasing population in Nigeria is posing numerous challenges of rising need for housing, especially in cities. With the increasing deficit in housing stock, it is evident that approaches adopted in housing provision in Nigeria are not effectively meeting the needs of adequacy, availability and affordability. The provisions and supply of housing so far do not seem to be targeted towards basic needs, and so the gap between supply and need keeps widening. This makes the need for rethinking the housing delivery approach in Nigeria necessary. This paper discusses the engagement of the concept of resilience in housing delivery, and how the approach could help in shrinking the gap between housing need and supply in Nigeria. The concept of resilience has been defined as the ability of a system to adapt to any form of stress or shock or trauma; in this case, the urban fabric is the system and the surging population is the stress that acts upon it. When considering to solve the housing deficit issues in Nigeria, therefore, there has to be an involvement of the causes and sources of the deficits. Housing as ‘need’should be clearly understood as different from housing as ‘demand’. This paper uses systematic literature review and content analysis of secondary data as methodology to tease out challenges of existing housing delivery approaches in Nigeria, and to suggest complimentary resilience strategies that can help to promote successful housing delivery. It is hoped that the recommendations would guide housing policy reviews, implementations by industry professionals and stakeholders.