Stakeholders in the housing sector have called for reforms like property tax to address the growing issue of unoccupied houses, and tax relief to encourage developers to build more houses.

The stakeholders said this at the 6th Edition of the African Housing Awards organised by the Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN) in Abuja.

They said the reforms would aid in tackling the nation’s housing deficit. The Convener of Award, Festus Adebayo, said property tax could encourage property owners to either sell or rent out their vacant properties thereby reducing the number of unused houses.

Adebayo, who is also the Executive Director of HDAN, said that the economy was not encouraging for both the private sector and the government sector to deliver affordable housing, thus the need for reforms.

“We should have policies that if you build social housing, low-cost housing, you will be excluded from paying certain taxes.

“This is a way to motivate people to build houses that are affordable. The only way to deliver affordable housing is that government must come with incentives.

“Government itself must also deliver houses, get free land, get money through budgetary allocation and provide houses for the people.

“Today we are giving the affordable hall of fame awards to people who have made significant contributions in delivering affordable housing,” he said.

Adebayo said the organisation had been using the hall of fame platform as a watchdog on the government and to create awareness on the benefits of building houses.

He said this had translated into getting more states to go into housing development, adding that states like Sokoto and Nasarawa had keyed into it and are delivering houses in their states.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, said that the Federal Government has not rested on its oars in delivering affordable housing to Nigerians.

According to Dangiwa, under the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme, the government currently has 14 active construction sites nationwide, for a total of 10,112 housing units.