Housing the Urban Poor in Nigeria through Community Participation Using Lessons from Nairobi Kenya

Abstract

Migration of people to urban areas from the rural areas usually comes with its challenges in<br />terms of infrastructural requirement and housing to cater for growing population. One of the challenge for the urban<br />dwellers in Nigeria is that of adequate housing. The inability of the government to meet this demand has seen the<br />people concerned seeking alternative solutions to housing need. The resulting settlements are usually unplanned hence<br />becoming a challenge for government to manage in terms of providing infrastructure facilities. With the growing<br />incidence of global warming and the attendant increase in flooding in most urban areas of Nigeria, especially between<br />year 2000 and 2013, the safety of the people who live in slums have become a concern to the state governments due to<br />issues of flooding and collapsed buildings. Government usually evicts such people and clear the settlement; however<br />the people simply relocate to another area. The aim of this paper is to examine how community participation can be<br />used to provide housing for the urban poor based on their living requirement, drawing from the experience of selected<br />case studies from Kenya. The research method adopted for the study is a qualitative research method using case studies<br />of selected communities in Kenya and selected communities in Nigeria. A comparative analysis is drawn with these<br />communities. The research concludes by proposing how community participation process should be incorporated into<br />provision of housing for the urban poor.