Low-Cost Housing:
Though alternative building technologies (ABTs) have been encouraged to address accessible and affordable issues in low-cost housing (LCH) provision, their adoption is still overwhelmed with encumbrances. The encumbrances that hinder ABT adoption require an in-depth study, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. However, studies regarding ABT and its role in improving Nigeria’s LCH to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 are scarce. This research investigates encumbrances to ABT adoption in Nigeria’s LCH provision and suggests feasible measures to prevent or reduce the encumbrances, thereby improving achieving SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities).
This research utilized qualitative research and adopted a face-to-face interview as the primary data collection. The interviewees comprised ABT practitioners and end users in Nigeria who were chosen by a convenient sampling technique. The study’s data were analyzed manually through a thematic approach.
This study shows that stakeholders should embrace ABT in LCH provision to improve achieving SDG 11 in Nigeria. Also, it clustered the perceived 20 encumbrances to ABT adoption in LCH provision into government/policymaker, housing developers/building contractors, ABT users, and ABT manufacturers-related issues in Nigeria’s context. This study suggested mechanisms to mitigate encumbrances to ABT adoption in LCH provision, thereby improving achieving SDG 11.
Housing provision is vital for contending extreme poverty and improving the physical well-being of households, especially in developing countries (Windapo et al., 2021). A boost in housing provision, especially low-cost housing (LCH), would reduce unemployment. Adabre et al. (2020) affirmed that most economic sectors (finance, industry, and commerce) benefit from the booming housing industry. Despite these benefits, accomplishing housing provisions for low-income earners (LIEs) is challenging (Moghayedi et al., 2021).
The LIEs and disadvantages in the developed countries are not exempted from the housing crisis but are insignificant compared to the many developing countries. Adabre and Chan (2019) reported that Australia had a 0.471% proportion of the population homeless, 0.435% belonged to Canada, 0.071% to Chile, 0.095% to Denmark, and Ireland 0.083%. The inability to address the LCH demand-supply gap would influence homelessness and urban slum growth in developing countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa (50.2%) is top of the list of major regions with urban populations living in slums followed by Central and Southern Asia (48.2%) (Alaazi and Aganah, 2020; Statista, 2023). VOA (2019) reported that about 53 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa live in slums and are generally underestimated by those in authority.
In 2020, it is estimated that 49% of Nigeria’s urban population live in slums without proper shelter (World Bank Group, 2023). Ekpo (2019)reported that the housing deficit is about 17.0 million and requires about 700,000 housing units annually to span through a 2-decade period to home to the rising population.
However, the Managing Director of Sow Real Estate (Mrs. Uzo Onukwubiri) claimed that over 30% of Nigerians are facing housing challenges in a population of about 200 million people, translating to nearly 62 million Nigerians facing a housing crisis (Ajayi, 2022). The estate guru identified the high cost of building materials as partially responsible for the growing housing deficit in Nigeria. Thus, searching for alternative building materials driven by technology is inevitable.
Scholars acknowledged the relevance of ABT as a method to save construction costs, shorten the project completion period, and make affordable, sustainable shelters with better quality (Dosumu and Aigbavboa, 2019; National Home Builder’s Registration Council, 2020; Windapo et al., 2021; Adetooto et al., 2022a, b).
The mechanism could enhance the cost efficiency, deliverability, and quality of public-built LCH. It provides many advantages that could enhance the quality of public-built LCH. Tshivhasa and Mbanga (2018) and Adetooto et al. (2022a, b) described ABT as any proficiency, talent, knowledge, tools, machinery, or equipment other than the traditional ways to quicken housing delivery without bargaining the durability and quality of building projects.
In South Africa, there is a perception that ABT-constructed houses are majorly for the disadvantaged (Adetooto et al., 2022a, b). Grady et al. (2019) and Dosumu and Aigbavboa (2019) found that South Africans preferred to live in a shelter built of conventional materials. Bonisile et al. (2019) and the South African Housing and Infrastructure Fund (2020) opined that ABT is a non-traditional building practice using economic and environmentally friendly materials to construct LCH. The approach enhances affordable, sustainable, and quicker construction approaches. Despite ABT’s advantages to solving the housing demand-supply gap, especially in developing countries, there are challenges in applying them.