Stop the rent rip-off! Rent control now!
Statement by the Revolutionary Socialist Movement (RSM)
The Revolutionary Socialist Movement (RSM) calls for urgent rent control, affordable housing and an end to the exploitation of tenants across Nigeria’s major cities.
Millions of Nigerians are struggling to afford decent accommodation as rents continue to rise beyond the reach of workers, students, traders, artisans, pensioners and low-income families. In cities such as Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Onitsha and Ibadan, finding a decent home has become an increasingly difficult challenge for ordinary people. According to a UN 2021 report “over 24.4 million people are homeless” nationwide.
Even in working-class communities around Abuja, including Karu, Jikwoyi, Zuba, Lugbe and Nyanya, landlords are demanding between ₦1,000,000 and ₦2,000,000 annually for one- and two-bedroom apartments, depending on the location and standard of accommodation. These costs place enormous pressure on workers whose wages are already inadequate to meet basic needs.
According to reports, Nigeria faces a housing deficit of over 17 million units. This is a massive crisis that requires urgent intervention and substantial public funding to resolve. The Revolutionary Socialist Movement (RSM) has consistently advocated for massive public housing programs and rent control measures to address the issues of housing and homelessness, which are prevalent today.
Despite the enormous housing deficit and widespread homelessness, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, recently attributed the rising cost of housing in the FCT to market forces. When questioned by journalists about the FCT Administration’s efforts to address high rents, the minister stated that the cost of everything has increased and that no government legislates on rents, as they are determined by market forces. But which are these “market forces”? Don’t they have a name? Aren’t the big market players capitalists who make decisions based on their drive for more and more profits?
RSM demands that government introduce effective and binding rent control policies to regulate excessive increases, reduce unaffordable rents and protect tenants against arbitrary eviction. No household should be forced to spend more than 30% of its income on rent. Rent regulation must be supported by transparent enforcement, tenant protection laws and penalties for landlords who violate the rules. This can be implemented through the establishment of tenants’ unions in each locality, who will democratically control rent prices.
The government must also embark on a massive programme of publicly funded social housing to provide decent, affordable homes for workers and low-income families.
Furthermore, RSM calls for the nationalisation of persistently vacant and deliberately withheld properties in major cities, with due legal process and appropriate measures to protect legitimate occupants. Such properties should be brought under democratic public ownership and allocated as affordable housing. Government must also identify abandoned public properties and return them to productive social use.
We cannot solve the housing crisis through rent control alone. Government must invest in public housing, expand access to affordable building materials, improve infrastructure in working-class communities and curb land speculation. This can only be done with the nationalization, under workers democratic control and management, of the building sector.
For the Revolutionary Socialist Movement, decent housing is a fundamental social need, not a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Workers who build our cities deserve homes they can afford without sacrificing food, healthcare, education and other necessities.
RSM DEMANDS:
- Rent control: Stop arbitrary and excessive rent increases through the imposition of price caps in each locality.
- The 30% rule: Rent should not exceed 30% of household income.
- Mass public housing: Build affordable homes for workers and low-income families.
- Nationalise persistently vacant properties: Bring suitable empty homes into public ownership for social use through a transparent legal process.
- Protect tenants: End arbitrary evictions, exploitative charges and discriminatory rental practices.
- Democratic housing policy: Give tenants, workers and community organisations a voice in housing decisions, through the establishment of tenants’ unions in each locality.
The housing crisis demands collective action by tenants, workers, trade unions, students and community organisations. RSM calls for a mass campaign to compel governments at all levels to make decent, affordable housing a public priority.
