An appraisal of home ownership for senior citizens in Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose

The Nigerian Government has been left behind in the planning of homes for the senior citizens as they are aged and retire from service. The possible outcome is untimely death of many because of contagious illness associated with the dilapidated environment in their abode. Hence, this paper attempts to investigate the hindrances of home ownership faced by senior citizens and proffers possible policy solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

A phenomenology type of qualitative research was adopted and 30 participants were interviewed. That is, ten from four different state government agencies and 20 senior citizens using purposive and snowball sampling techniques and data saturation was also achieved. The data derived were analysed using MAXQDA 2018 and through a thematic analysis.

Findings

This paper found that Nigerian low-income senior citizens (LISCs) who owned houses lived more stable well-being. Whilst the level of home ownership was completely dissatisfying as failed mortgage finance, corruption in the pension scheme, relaxed National Housing Policy implementation and inadequate senior citizens’ home ownership policy were identified as the encumbrances.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is limited to exploring the root cause of LISCs’ inability to gain home ownership and proffering possible solutions. Future research is needed to use relevant information in advancing home ownership policy for the low-income groups across the states in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Practical implications

This paper recommended that government should impose housing construction on three acres and above, mitigate corruption, establish special housing loan scheme for senior citizens, sustain rent-to-own policy and land subsidy in cities to enhance senior citizens’ home ownership. These recommendations form part of the paper's practical implications.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates that existing housing policies are yet to consider the senior citizens regarding enhancing their home ownership status.

Citation

Ebekozien, A. (2021), "An appraisal of home ownership for senior citizens in Nigeria", Property Management, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 54-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/PM-03-2020-0021