Due to rapid urbanization and the recent growing influx of migrants from politically fragile states, cities are now faced with an impending housing problem. In developing countries like Nigeria, the impacts of the housing problem, which include economic, social (humanitarian), and environmental crises, are evident. Recently, sustainability has become a central theme for public discussion, not only in expanding housing for the growing population but also in improving the quality of residential livelihoods of low-income households without compromising the housing needs of future generations. So far, there have been numerous studies conducted on sustainable housing in Nigeria, touching on sustainability in housing but mostly from the professionals’ point of view.

Therefore, a document content analysis to generate success criteria and a survey for household validation were conducted. Results show that security ranks the highest, and other criteria of importance include accessibility, adaptability, utility, technology, community, affordability, and acceptability. Hence, the study concludes that social and environmental sustainability in housing should enhance household satisfaction by ensuring the security and welfare of its residents, adapt to its immediate environment, be acceptable, be supported with social amenity to integrate the community through participation, and, finally, manage household utility efficiently.