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Hangzhou where in 2012, the municipality withdrew the 10% inclusionary requirement to sell some pieces of land in order to address its decline in revenue.
The inclusionary housing strategy in China cannot be said to have been effective. One major reason is the novelty of the strategy in this part of the world because of the country’s long held land rules and beliefs of spiritual attachment to the land. Another reason could be the paucity of land resulting from the problem of overpopulation.
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requirements must be expressly stated; for example, in all the reviewed cases, affordable units must be visually compatible with market rate units in the same development. In the case of Fairfax county, affordable inclusionary units may differ from the market unit in a “covered project” with regard to interior amenities and gross floor area provided that:
i. These differences do not include insulation, windows, heating systems and other improvements related to the energy efficiency of the project unit.
ii. The gross floor area of the affordable inclusionary unit is not less than the minimum requirements established by the city plan.
All external building materials and finishes in inclusionary units should be of the same type and quality as in market rate units. This is to ensure that there is no significant variation between inclusionary and market rate housing units. In addition, payment of a fee in lieu of inclusionary housing units is allowed provided:
a. The developer can show that residents’ housing expenses for an inclusionary housing unit would exceed what a participant or potential beneficiary could pay.
Under this waiver, such a fee must be sufficient to produce more units or units that are more affordable to low- and moderate-income families.
b. The developer can demonstrate that payment of a fee in lieu of development would offer more benefits than construction on site.
c. The developer can show that as a direct consequence of inclusionary housing delivery they would:
i. Be deprived of economically viable use of their property as a whole.
ii. Lose money on the development as a whole and demonstrate that the loss is an unavoidable consequence of the affordable housing requirement.
All these provisions aim to ensure that developers are able to deliver on their commitments and are not short- changed in the production and delivery of inclusionary housing.
Furthermore, all the houses must be built and delivered at the same time. For example, in the US, the last building built or delivered must not be the affordable units; this is to ensure that market housing units are not developed at the expense of the inclusionary ones.
Transparency in marketing inclusionary housing units is also essential. In most cases, preference is given to citizens of the city or those presently employed in the city. To ensure that the intended beneficiaries match the target incomes, appropriate inclusionary units must correspond with the income target and household size. This is achieved by stating all the
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associated conditions in advertising the inclusionary housing program. In instances where immediate effective demand is envisaged to outstrip supply, the government or its agencies should establish and maintain an equitable process to allocate rights to purchase or rent through the use of a lottery. The inclusionary inner-city housing program in central Lagos must be pragmatic and just in order to ensure that it only benefits those it is intended for.
The success of inclusionary housing in the reviewed cases hinges largely on effective public land ownership, management and administration and the existence of an adequate legal framework. Affordable housing within the inclusionary zoning programs reviewed is segmented for different levels of income of households excluded from the residential market, including homeless people, and includes housing for sale to households with low- to moderate-incomes and social rental housing for households with very low incomes or even temporary housing for those without any income. The study will draw on all of these lessons with modifications to suit the socio-economic peculiarities of the inner city of central Lagos.
While the nationalisation of land by the Land Use Act of 1979 represents a veritable legal instrument for the successful application of an inclusionary housing program in the inner city of central Lagos, it is proposed that it be used with caution.
In conclusion, it is clear that inclusionary housing does not equate to rent control or direct construction of low cost housing as presently espoused by the Lagos State housing policy.
Rather, it means providing equal opportunities for all to participate in the housing market irrespective of its location. The literature review also revealed that the success of an inclusionary housing programme hinges on a wide range of factors, including participatory governance and political will to implement such a programme, as demonstrated in the United states of America at the initial stage of the introduction of inclusionary housing scheme in the country, when the Fairfax county’s ordinance was nullified by the Supreme court. The state was however dogged in getting the scheme implemented by muscling the necessary political will.
To introduce and implement inclusionary housing strategy in the inner city of central Lagos, the state government needs to embark on wide consultation through citizen participation and demonstration of courage and political ability to implement the strategy. Other identified factors, include effective legal and land use planning framework as exemplified virtually in all the reviewed cities. A case in point is that of the United States of America, Sydney and
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England which have strong and detailed legal instruments providing adequate backing for the implementation of inclusionary housing strategy in these countries. The study’s proposal provides an adequate framework aimed at strengthening the legal provisions for inclusionary housing in the inner city of central Lagos. A strong local economy, efficient land administration and public ownership of land as observed in England and the United States of America have equally contributed to success story of inclusionary housing strategies in these countries. The city of Lagos being one of the few mega cities in Africa can boast of strong economy, though the city’s land ownership pattern is characterised with lot of imprecisions such as multiple ownership of land. The study proposes to adequately address this challenge.
The shortage of land within the inner city of central Lagos, high population density, rapid urbanization, and poorly conceived planning regulations as witnessed partly in some of the reviewed cities of China and Sydney paved the way for the exclusion of the poor from the inner city and necessitated inclusionary housing strategies where rentals outstrip the income of many city residents. All these issues point to the need for an inclusionary housing strategy in the inner city of central Lagos.