Key points
- Mr Yemi Adelakun, Convener of CHOSA-AFRICA, identifies cooperative housing as a practical solution to Africa’s growing housing challenges.
- High interest rates, limited access to mortgages, and unstable incomes are cited as the primary barriers to homeownership for many Africans.
- Cooperative housing allows individuals to pool financial resources to build or acquire homes at more affordable rates.
- Rapid urbanization and population growth are increasing the pressure on housing availability in African cities.
- The 2026 Cooperative Housing Summit Africa (CHOSA-AFRICA) will host participants from across the continent to share affordable housing strategies.
Main Story
Mr Yemi Adelakun, Convener of the 2026 Cooperative Housing Summit Africa (CHOSA-AFRICA), says cooperative housing is gaining attention as a practical approach to addressing the growing housing challenges faced by many African countries.
Adelakun made the call at a news conference on Friday in Abuja ahead of CHOSA-AFRICA. He stated that cooperative housing had become an effective way to reduce the housing deficit across Africa, especially for low and middle-income earners.
According to him, many Africans still find it difficult to own homes because of high interest rates, poor access to housing loans and unstable income.
These systemic challenges have made it difficult for many people to benefit from the conventional mortgage system. Adelakun explained that the cooperative model bypasses these barriers by allowing individuals to pool resources together to build or acquire houses at more affordable rates.
He stressed that rapid urbanisation and population growth in many African cities continued to increase pressure on available housing.
The Issues
- Conventional mortgage systems in Africa often exclude the informal sector and low-income earners due to rigid credit requirements and high borrowing costs.
- Rapid urban migration is outstripping the pace of formal housing construction, leading to increased informal settlements and overcrowding in major cities.
- There is a significant gap in collaborative policy frameworks between governments and cooperative societies to scale these community-led housing projects.
What’s Being Said
- “Cooperative housing is gaining attention as a practical approach to addressing the growing housing challenges faced by many African countries,” said Mr Yemi Adelakun.
- He explained that cooperative housing allowed individuals to “pool resources together to build or acquire houses at more affordable rates.”
- The convener called for “collaborations from stateholders aimed at reducing housing deficit in the country.”
What’s Next
- CHOSA-AFRICA will convene in Abuja to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences on affordable housing solutions among participants from various African nations.
- Stakeholders are expected to discuss new models for linking cooperative housing schemes with government land allocation and infrastructure support.
- Regional leaders may look toward creating cross-border standards for cooperative housing finance to attract more institutional investment into the sector.
Bottom Line
With traditional mortgages largely out of reach for the average earner, the 2026 Cooperative Housing Summit Africa is positioning the cooperative “resource-pooling” model as the primary vehicle for achieving mass affordable housing on the continent.
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