The paper observes that the problems of housing provision and management for low-income earners remain intractable in society. By assessing the effectiveness of the public sector intervention in housing development for the group over the years, the paper argues that despite the existence of many policy directives, and unattainable goals statements such as ‘housing for all by the year 2000, sixteen years after the target year, the problem of inadequate and unaffordable housing for the group has persisted and reached a critical state. It posits that within the context of the institutional framework, the current housing provision and management practices in Lagos require a paradigm shift to reduce the percentage of citizens living in a blighted residential environment. It employs interview and secondary data for assessment of the past and present low-income housing program performance towards a critique of the factors that are responsible for the policy ‘somersault’. It appraises the factors militating against the attainment of sustainable housing development for the group and concludes by proffering a workable solution to the identified problems asserting that social housing development provides the way forward in attaining sustainable housing development for the low-income earners in Lagos.