Month: August 2014

The future of housing in Africa is pegged on a shift in focus towards rental housing. These were observations made during a panel discussion chaired by Shelter Afrique on the issues affecting housing in Africa.
Panelists at the event held at a Nairobi hotel outlined the various advantages that can be accrued from establishing a formal rental housing system. Femi Adewole the Director of Portfolio Management at Shelter Afrique remarked on the need for long term capital investment in order to construct the rental homes.
“With about 90% of Africa’s population unable to buy a house or even qualify for a mortgage, there is need to make a serious mental shift towards formal rental housing as a viable option to solve the housing crisis” remarked James Mugerwa the Managing Director of Shelter Afrique.
“We must break the housing unit the same way we broke down the mobile phone – Lands PS Mariam El Maawy. Investors and the Government must flag important policy to spur housing development.
The forum that brought together government officials, private rental property owners, financiers and nongovernmental organization in housing sector comes ahead of a pan africa wide conference to be held in October. The conference themed “Formal Rental Housing in Africa: A Critical Option in the Challenge of Providing Affordable for All” is an open forum to discuss formal rental housing as a critical housing option, with a view to formulating concrete proposals on how best to stimulate this sector in Africa.

Shelter-Afrique’s newly appointed Director, Business Development, Mr. Mouhamodou Gueye paid a courtesy call to Nigeria’s Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban development, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi on Tuesday, 22nd July, 2014.

The purpose of the courtesy visit was to officially communicate to the Ministry of the commencement of operations in the West African Regional Office of Shelter-Afrique situated in Abuja, Nigeria. The Director, Business Development assured the Minister that Shelter-Afrique has come to contribute its quota to ensuring that the 17million housing deficit in Nigeria is reduced to the minimum. He added that Shelter-Afrique had started doing this by investing $3million in the recently established National Mortgage Refinancing Company of Nigeria (NMRC).

The Minister advocated that Nigeria, being the largest shareholder in Shelter-Afrique should reap the commensurate benefits from Shelter Afrique, such as investing more in Nigeria and employing more Nigerians in the organization. The Minister noted that with huge housing deficit in Nigeria, and based on the fact that Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa, Shelter Afrique has a large investment opportunity in Nigeria. She, therefore, called on the Resident Regional Representative, Mr. Oumar Diop to work with the Ministry for support with regards to embarking on business opportunity tour in the country, and visit to all the States of the Federation.

The Minister pledged her support for Shelter Afrique’s activities in Nigeria.