Government Policies And Household Mobility Behaviour In Nigeria: The Case Of Osun State Property Development Corporation (Ospdc)

This paper examines government housing policies and how it affects household mobility behaviour in Osun State Nigeria, with a focus on the Osun State Property Development Corporation (OSPDC). The study used both primary and secondary data. The primary data was obtained through oral interview of randomly selected officials of the OSPDC and purposively selected households’ resident in OSPDC estates in the six geo-political zones of the state while the secondary data was collected from the official records of the corporation. Simple descriptive statistical tools were employed to analyze the data collected. The study revealed that the major determinants of household mobility behaviour in the state are accessibility and affordability of housing units, other factors include: household type, size class of households, type of dwelling/housing units, number of exclusive sleeping rooms and tenure status. Also, the study revealed that in Nigeria, particularly Osun state, the government through the agency of the OSPDC encourages household mobility through the provision of accessible and affordable housing to the low and middle income class. However, much is still left to be desired as only few of the citizenry have access to these “affordable” housing units. It was recommended that government should rather exert its effort towards providing an enabling environment (through provision of sites and services) for the provision of housing to ensure successful household mobility most especially for the low-income class. Adequate funding of the state housing corporations and encouragement of Public Private Sector Participation can greatly improve accessibility and affordability for household mobility. This will greatly impact on the household mobility of especially the low income class in the state.