HOUSING Charles O. OLATUBARA Department of Urban and Regional Planning University of Ibadan, Ibadan coolatubara@yahoo.com 2348053851855 Gersh E. Henshaw Department of Estate Management College of technology, Calabar gershgersh@yahoo.com And Femi A. BALOGUN Department of Urban and Regional Planning University of Ibadan, Ibadan balogunfemi@ymail.com 2348052090896 Abstract This paper reviewed the scholarly publications of Professor ‘Tunde Agbola in housing with a view to realizing his contributions to knowledge in the area of housing development and management in Nigeria. Concept of housing was used as anchor for the paper while deduction was made from the synopsis of his publications in the area of; housing development process, housing delivery services, housing management as a business, and ethics and professional skills in housing. It was revealed that over the period of 18 years that housing was introduced as a programme in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, Professor ‘Tunde Agbola has made a giant stride in the world of housing profession by building capacity of intended housing managers through training, teaching and research. Keywords: Housing; Development; Management; Business; Ethics 1.0 Introduction According to European Network for Housing Research (1990), half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Yet the growth of urbanization in the developing world has not been matched by a commensurate growth in the supply of decent housing. Gilbert (2000) opined that millions of urban families in the developing countries face a severe housing problem. They live 1 in homes that lack adequate sanitation, have an irregular electricity supply and are built of flimsy materials. However, the form that the housing problem takes varies greatly between and within countries homelessness is significant in some places, elsewhere the main problem is one of overcrowding or the unavailability of infrastructure and services. Odongo (1979) expressed that housing shortage is the major component of the urban housing problem in the developing countries. This is corroborated with the short-comings of policy, lack of political will, limitations of housing finance, poor land management in urban areas, lack of security of tenure, and lack of infrastructure and services as some of the issues that confront citizens and policy-makers in developing countries, and provide a strong theme for research, analysis and action. Realization of the speculated objectives of housing in Nigeria gave birth to the introduction of Housing as a programme in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in 2001 through the leading effort of Professor Tunde Agbola with a view to building capacity of the intending housing managers through training and research in order to address housing debacle in Nigeria and developing countries at large. The resources of various disciplines are being put together on the possible ways of integrating the conflicting demands on urban land in Nigeria for housing through joint research of scholars, intellectuals and practitioners of housing project in the housing market with a view to achieving live-able cities in the future urban areas in Nigeria for sustainable urban growth and housing development. It is on account of this, that this paper presents a review of the scholarly contributions of Professor Tunde Agbola in ‘housing’ profession since its inception as a programme in Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, with a view to realizing the potential contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the area of housing development and management in Nigeria. However, the outline of the paper consists of the following: introduction of housing as a programme, context of housing i.e. meaning, objectives and principles of housing, concept of housing as an anchor for the paper, housing development process, housing delivery services, management of housing as a business, ethic and professional skills in housing. 2.0 Conceptual Framework According to Ruonavaara (2017), housing studies is a multidisciplinary field of research comprised of research in sociology, psychology, economics, anthropology, history, planning, 2 architecture, philosophy and other academic and professional disciplines. However, the concept of housing has been found more appropriate to be used as anchor for this paper. 2.1 Concept of Housing According to Frampton (1973), many of the received models of modern architecture, planning and housing owe their ultimate origin to the building code and public health reform movements of the second half of the 19th century. As such they emerged as attempts first to accommodate and then to control the escalation in urban population that had risen to crisis proportions by the middle of the century. The first reaction to this spontaneous urbanization was to house the migrating rural labour in constricted tenements or back to back row houses, involving the wholesale super-imposition of sub-human living conditions. The second reaction was to legislate against the more brutal aspects of this instant housing and to postulate alternative models for the accommodation of the urban populace; models which would provide higher standards of space, access, light, ventilation, heat and sanitation. The third and final reaction, from the point of view of basic model making, was to propose the gradual dis-urbanization of rich and poor alike, to advocate the planned dispersal of their urban congestion, at locations and densities which were clearly intended to be rural. The aim of these reactions is to improve the quality of housing condition in towns and cities of both developed and developing countries of the world by eradicating slums, ghettos and sprawls. Ranasinghe and Hemakumara (2018) expressed that housing or living spaces refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings collectively, for the purpose of sheltering people. Business Dictionary (n.d.) defined housing as buildings or structures that individuals and their family live in that meet the regulations of planning and other assigned authorities by government can also be referred to as housing. Agbola (1994) asserted that housing is a combination of services because housing cannot stand on its own. The interaction of housing with others like Financial sectors, environmental sector; business sector etc. confirmed the definition of housing by Agbola (1998). National Housing Policy (2002) called it a process which invariably supported the assertion of Agbola (1998) in the sense that these combine services in housing are subjected to series of processes. Oxford English Dictionary (2005) opined that the social issue in housing is of ensuring that members of the society have a home in which to live, whether this is a house, or some other kind of dwelling, lodging or shelter. Melnikas 3 (1998) expressed that there is more to housing than social function but bio-social activity by describing housing as a specific and relatively limited, physically, biologically socially close place where people and groups of people can live their biosocial life, by receiving services, performing house chores and other biosocial activity. The various definitions and descriptions of housing by Ranasinghe and Hamakumara (2018); Agbola (1998); National Housing Policy (2002); Oxford English Dictionary (2005); and Melnikas (1998) suggest that housing is dynamic and it performs diverse functions that make it to be viewed differently by different people but still within the context of providing shelter for people. According to Housing Element (2013), speculated objectives of housing include: (1) production of an adequate supply of rental and ownership housing in order to meet current and projected needs; (2) preservation of quality rental and ownership housing for households of all income levels and special need; (3) forcasting and planning for changing housing needs over time in relation to production and preservation needs; (4) reducing regulatory and procedural barriers to the production and preservation of housing at all income levels and needs; (5) promotion of safety and health within neighbourhood; (6) promotion of sustainable neighbourhoods that have mixed-income housing, jobs, amenities, services and transit; promotion of sustainable buildings, which minimize adverse effects on the environment and minimize the use of non-renewable resources; (7) promotion of livable neighbourhoods with a mix of housing types, quality design and a scale and character that respects unique residential neighbourhoods in the city; (8) promotion of more equitable distribution of affordable housing opportunities throughout the city; (9) ensuring that housing opportunities are accessible to all residents without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, sex, national origin, color, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, age, disability (including HIV/AIDS), and student status; (10) promoting fair housing, practices and those involved in the production, preservation and operation of housing; providing an adequate supply of short-term and permanent housing and services throughout the city that are appropriate and meet the specific needs of all persons who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Ehlers and Steel (1965) said that in 1938, a committee on the Hygiene of Housing, appointed by American Public Health Association (APHA), created the basic principles of Healthful Housing, which provided guidance regarding the fundamental needs of humans as they relate to housing. These fundamental needs include: physiologic needs (i.e. thermal environment 4 that will avoid undue, heat loss and permit adequate heat loss from the body, adequate daylight illumination and avoidance of undue daylight glare, direct sunlight, protection from excessive noise and adequate space for exercise and for children to play; psychologic needs (i.e. adequate privacy for the individual, opportunities for normal family and community life, aesthetic home satisfaction and its surroundings, concordance with prevailing social standards of the local community); protection against disease (i.e. provision of safe and sanitary water supply, protection of water supply system against pollution, provision of toilet facilities that minimize the danger of transmitting disease, avoidance of unsanitary conditions near the dwelling etc.); protection against injury; protection against fire and electrical shock, and protection against toxic and explosive gas. Housing environment plays a significant role in health and well-being of the dwellers, hence, the need for housing provision that uphold the basic principles of healthful housing. Moreover, there is a connection between health and housing environment which is affirmed by Nightingale (2009) that at the beginning of the 21st century, there is a growing awareness that health is linked not only to the physical structure of housing unit, but also to the neighbourhood and community in which the house is located. 3.0 Housing Development Process Professor ‘Tunde Agbola has contributed immensely to the body of literature in the area of housing development process. Some of his scholarly efforts in this direction include: 1. Agbola, Tunde, Egunjobi, Layi and Olatubara, C.O., (ed), 2nd Edition, 2016, Housing Development and Management: A Book of Readings, Department of urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. 2. Agbola, Tunde 1989. “An Introduction to the Type, of Housing Units in Nigeria”, in Agbola, Tunde (ed) Real Estate Investment in Nigeria Linnet Paul Publication, London, pp.8-12. 3. Agbola, Tunde and Onibokun, Poju. 1990. “Urban Housing Problems: Implications for the Construction Industry in Nigeria” in Onibokun (ed) Urban Housing in Nigeria, NISER, pp.361-391. 5 4. Agbola, Tunde. 1994. “Formal and Informal Housing in The Ibadan City Region”, in Filani and Akintola (ed) Ibadan Region, New Edition. 5. Agbola, Tunde and E.O. Agbola, 2007, “Housing Sector Development and Employment Generation”, Proceedings of the 2006 Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society, Ibadan, pp.291-308. The synopsis of Professor Tunde Agbola’s scholarly contributions revealed that housing development process ranging from creating a development strategy (information gathering), finding a site, land matters (acquisition, classification and conversion of the land with the project to be developed), planning stages (developing a request for proposal, licenses and approval), selecting a developer, housing production, selecting property manager, occupancy and services. Information on what to know, how to start, when to start and where to start is very important in housing development process. Finding the exact and appropriate site that suit the proposed housing development is the appropriate site that answered the question, of what, how, when and where to start the proposed housing development. The third stage is land matters (which include: acquisition, classification and conversion. Land acquisition phase- the developer looks for land that fit the criteria of the project (land prospecting), diligently check for illegal or natural impediments, then negotiation follows, that is to possess the land or enter into a joint venture with the land owner (transfer or title), joint venture signing. Land classification phase is all about going to the Bureau of Physical Planning and Development Control at the Local Government to find out if the classification of the land (approved land zoning) is in conformity to the proposed housing development, and if the not developer proceed to seek for conversion approved by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Development Control at the State Government. Fourth Planning stage – developer comes up with sub-development plans i.e. geological studies, topographic survey and development plan, roads and other infrastructure (i.e. electrical, drainage, water system, other civil works), building plan programme of development, working study, bid of materials, cost estimate and financial projections. Licenses and permits form the fifth stage in housing development. Filling of licenses and document. Once this is done the application for development permit has to be filled with the Bureau of Physical Planning and Development Control at the local government level. These licenses and permits shall include plays approval process, licenses to build and sell or lease the housing property. The sixth stage is selecting a 6 developer that will implement the proposed housing plan to details. The seventy stage include the identifying and commissioning of a licensed property manager that will see to the management of the housing property in terms of allotting occupancy type, and maintenance services. 4.0 Housing Delivery Services The past on parade of the scholarly contributions of Tunde Agbola to housing delivery services in Nigeria cannot be under-estimated. Some of his scholarly efforts in this direction include: 1. Agbola, S.B. 2005, Housing Debacle, An Inaugural Lecture, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. 2. Agbola, Tunde and Adegoke, S.A. 2007, “Economics of Housing”, in Agbola, Tunde, Egunjobi, Layi and Olatubara, C.O., Housing Development and Management: A Book of Readings, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, pp.107-149. 3. Agbola, Tunde and Olatubara, C.O. 2007, “Private Sector Driven Housing Delivery in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects” in Nubi, T.O., Omirin, M.M. and Afolayan, A.S. (ed), Private Sector Driven Housing Delivery in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Prospects, Department of Estate Management, University of Lagos, pp.3.25. 4. Agbola, Tunde, 2009, “The Challenges of Housing Sector Reform in Nigeria (19992007)”, in Kadiri, W.A. (ed), Our cities, Our Future: Dialogue on Urban Planning Challenges and Management, Fabiyi Press, Lagos, pp.101-124. 5. Agbola, S.B. 2010, “The Housing Sector in Retrospect and the Prospect of Housing Sufficiency in the Next 50 years” in Akande, S.O. and Kumuyi, A.J., Nigeria at 50: Accomplishments, Challenges and Prospects, Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), pp.535-564. 6. Agbola, Tunde, 1990: “Affordability and Cost Recovery in Shelter Projects: The Case of Nigeria”, Third World Planning Review, Vol.12, No. 1, Feb. pp.59-74. 7 7. Agbola, Tunde, 1991. “The Mobilization of Finance for Rural Housing Development in Nigeria”, Journal of International Development, vol.3, No.5, pp. 515-529. The synopsis of Professor Tunde Agbola scholarly contributions revealed the thematic areas of significant roles performed by individuals, government, non-governments and finance institutions in housing delivery services in Nigeria. The significant roles of principal actors identified in housing delivery services include: individual – this consists of individual housing developers who engages in project viability studies, designing and provision of funds for the implementation of the housing project with basic amenities without the intervention of the government. Individual housing developers engage the services of independent building contractors in the construction of buildings and infrastructure. They are solely responsible for determining the margin of profit and marketing of the completed housing. Government – this consists of both federal and state governments. The federal housing agencies comprised of The Federal Ministry of Environment Housing and Urban Development (FMEHUD), the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). The state housing agencies comprised of Housing and Property Development Corporations and Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs). Government plays a significant role in housing delivery services either through public – private partnership or sole government. The process involves that government (Federal or State) provide the land and policy framework, complete housing delivery scheme with provision of infrastructure and social services with or without commercial private housing developers and some housing finance institutions as partners. In this case, government determines profit margin and marketing of the completed housing units with or without private housing developers. Non-government organizations – these consist of private sector organizations, which include: commercial private housing developers, building contractors and membership of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Private Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMD) and commercial banks. Private housing developers like the individual/housing developers play a significant role in housing delivery services by getting involved in the project viability studies, the design and provision of funds for the implementation of the housing project with basic amenities with or without government intervention. Private housing developers engage the services of independent building contractors for the construction of buildings and basic infrastructure. In this case, private housing developers determine the price 8 margin and marketing of the completed housing units. Finance Institution – this consists of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), state government Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs), and Private Mortgage Institutions (PMIs) through commercial banks. These finance institution’s play a significant role in providing both private and individual housing developers access to housing finances that enable them to acquire land and build completed housing units. 5.0 Housing Management as a Business Professor Tunde Agbola’s scholarly and practical contributions in the area of housing management as a business in Nigeria consist of the following: 1. Agbola, Tunde 1989. “Understanding The Nigerian Housing or Real Estate Market”, in Agbola, Tunde (ed) Op Cit., 13-17. 2. Agbola, Tunde, 2007, “Housing as a Profession”, in Agbola, Tunde, Egunjobi Layi and Olatubara, C.O., Housing Development and Management: A Book of Readings, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, pp.1-12. 3. Agbola, Tunde, 1990, “The Housing Delivery System and Evaluation of the Housing Situation in Abuja and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)” Workshop on Abuja – The Past, Present and Future, 4-7 Sept., Sheraton, Abuja. 4. Agbola, Tunde, 1989 (ed) Real Estate Investment in Nigeria, Linnet Paul Publications, London. 5. Agbola, Tunde, 2005, “Real Estate Cycles and Housing Marketing Dynamics” Lead Paper Presented at the Formal Inauguration of the Housing Development and Management Forum, 1-2 November, 2005 at the Conference Center, University of Ibadan. Deduction from Professor Tunde Agbola’s scholarly contributions in housing management as a business revealed that property management entail maintaining professional relationship among different kinds of people (i.e. landlords, tenants, contractors, etc.) and the real estate. Moreover, there are fundamental qualities expected of an estate manager in order to 9 be successful in managing different kinds of people and real estate together. These qualities include: good communication skills, time management principle, and detail-oriented skill. The scholarly contributions of Professor Agbola in housing also revealed an outlay of step by step guide on starting a property management business in Nigeria as follow: Setting Up Your Business- This as to do with going to Corporate Affairs Commission (C.A.C.) to register your property management company as limited liability in order to make it legal. Secure good office phone numbers, email addresses, business cards and so on. Get a good office location that is accessible to all and equip it with office equipment to start up with. More interestingly, you can do most of these simply and inexpensively, until your business takes off enough for you to afford more costly services. Finding Clients – This can only be achieved through networking with different kinds of people at every point in time with a good brief of what your company can offer them and do better than others in the area of property management. This can also be possible by placing adverts with catchy captions on the interact about your property management business and what your company is up to in the world of property business management. Property managers can also join local real investors and landlords. Non-traditional places and events can also be exploited for networking opportunities with local hard money lenders who are stuck with rental properties. Filing the Rental Units – This has to do with who occupies what which can be more challenging. There is affordable different platform chart that can be used as tenant pool i.e. weekly newspaper, local daily, internet page, bill board etc. It is the responsibility of property manager to consider how your target tenants looks for and find apartments for rent, and then focus on that medium. Also, property managers must comply with the rules and regulations that govern the business buy setting up different kinds of form that give enough information about your intended clients such as application form, commitment form, background information form, specific lease agreement form which includes all required addendum and disclosures. Property Management – This talk more about the proactive and reactive attribute of property managers when dealing with tenants because most of the issues that emanate between property managers and tenants can be dealt with immediately at the point before it get out of hand and lead to lawsuits, damaged rental properties and payment defaults. Therefore, good property management companies strive to minimize risk (namely the risk of litigation and 10 damage to rental units) and maximize clients’ profits (by slashing variance rates and maintenance/repair costs). Offering different attractable incentives to the tenants under your management can be used to achieve client’s profits maximization. 6.0 Ethic and Professional Skills in Housing Scholarly contribution of Tunde Agbola’s on ethics and professional skills in housing include: 1. Agbola, Tunde 2002, “Housing As a Profession”, Paper Presented at the One Day Seminar of the Association of Housing and Development Students of the University of Ibadan, 22 August, Cocoa Dome, Ibadan. 2. Agbola, Tunde, 2009, “Real Estate Cycles and Real Estate Profession: Riding Through the Storm”, Keynote Paper at the Annual Dinner of the NIESV, Oyo State Chapter, Jogor Center, Ibadan, 23 July. 3. Agbola, Tunde, Egunjobi, Layi and Olatubara, C.O., (ed) 2nd Edition, 2016, Housing Development and Management: A Book of Reading, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. According to Chartered Institute of Housing (2015), housing is a value-based profession. Working in housing puts professionals in a position of trust in relation to their customprofessional judgements. Going by Chartered Institute of Housing and scholarly contributions of Tunde, Agbola in ethics and professional skills in housing, it can be deduced that there are set of principles that shapes the professional members across the housing industry which include: Respect for others – This consists of being fair in all dealings; demonstrating a commitment to equality and diversity and treating people fairly; be courteous and willing to listen to others and speak to people in a way they can understand by appreciating their circumstances; make judgements based on your professional rather than ones’ individual/ personal opinion; respect others’ confidential information; take responsibility for yourself and your work; understand how your actions affect others and act accordingly. Act with integrity – This involves the: understanding and upholding ones’ professional and legal obligations; be open and honest in ones’ work; recognize conflicts of interest and 11 ensure that ones’ professional judgement is not compromised; build trust in oneself, your employer/business and your profession; honour your duty of care to your clients and customers, your colleagues, your organization and the community in which you work and never take advantage of your position for personal gain; follow through on your commitments; and being impartial in your treatment of others. Take Responsibility – This is attained by ensuring that one has all the relevant information before taking action; take the time to understand the context of the situation and the needs of those involved; act within the scope of your competence and your role; reflect on the outcome of your decisions and learn from them to improve your skills in the future; act in the best interest of others; and ensure you consider the impact of your decisions broadly. Maintaining Professional Competence – This can be attained by keeping ones’ skills and knowledge up to date so that one works effectively, strive to achieve the highest personal standards; honestly assess ones development needs and be committed to personal development; take responsibility for ones’ developments and don’t wait to be directed by others; support others in their development and be an advocate for the practice as well as lessons from ones’ mistakes. Make a difference – He summitted that trusting in ones’ professional judgement and not being afraid to act; asking questions when ones’ feels something is not right; fostering independence and empowering others to take control of their lives; challenging negative stereotypes; contributing positively to those ones’ is responsible to particularly, the colleagues, ones’ organization and the community; being an advocate of the profession, and being prepared to be innovative and encourage change. Conclusion This paper has been able to consider the state of housing development and management and the factors that craved the need for the introduction of housing as a programme in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, given background information on the meaning, objectives and principles of housing as a concept. More so, synopsis of Agbola’s scholarly contributions to housing development process, housing delivery services, management of housing as a business, ethic and professional skills in housing have been carefully and logically narrated. However, going through some of the scholarly publications of Professor ‘Tunde Agbola in the world of housing profession, it can be concluded that he has 12 made an outstanding contributions to housing development and management through his advocacy that housing should be seen as an essential commodity which is fundamental to human right and it should be made affordable to all in the sense that housing costs should not be so high as being equated to food, education and access to healthcare. 13 References Agbola, T. (1998). The Housing of Nigerians: A Review of Policy Development and Implementation in Financing Housing Services Delivery and Its Challenges in Nigeria, Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, Vol.7, No.4, 2016. 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