Leveraging Community & Relationships As Social Capital to Make Housing Affordable in Lagos.

The Lagos 'paradox'

Lagos is a city of living contrasts. Its advantage is equally a disadvantage.

It concentrates commerce, jobs, and upward mobility, but it also concentrates cost: expensive land, sky-high rents, and a city where proximity to opportunity can mean the difference between financial resilience and chronic debt.

Meanwhile, the traditional “build-and-sell” housing models and occasional government estates have not scaled to meet this reality. What happens is that most Lagosians are left to cobble together shelter through informal systems or accept long commutes to distant, low-amenity plots.

It’s time to rethink the supply side by starting with the one resource we already have in abundance: social capital.

‍

Why government & developer-led models fall short

The 'build-and-sell' is capital-intensive. Developers factor in land cost, financing, overhead, profit margins, and contingencies. End prices reflect market economics, not individual budgets.

Government programs often aim high but deliver low-reach outcomes because they’re one-size-fits-many, slow, and sometimes politically driven. Both pathways underserve the middle and informal sectors.

Community-led housing as a viable alternative.

At its core, community-led housing means people who share a common interest use collective action to secure land, build homes, and manage assets on terms that reflect their incomes and priorities.

Community approaches allow buyers to choose entry points that match their cash flow and to build incrementally, avoiding the huge upfront costs that shut most people out. This isn’t a single model but a family of approaches allowing a blend of multiple informal solutions:

• Esusu groups that save for a plot,
• Cooperatives that buy and develop land,
• Community land trusts that steward long-term affordability.

The defining features are pooled resources, local governance, phased building, and legal ownership for members.

‍

Leveraging social capital.

Across Lagos and Nigeria, informal savings groups, age grades, religious bodies, and cooperative societies already perform financial intermediation, solidarity lending, labour sharing, and collective risk management. These groups know how to:

• Hold members accountable.
• Pool small monthly contributions into actionable capital.
• Use internal skills (masons, carpenters, electricians) to reduce costs.
• Negotiate bulk rates for materials,
• Resolve disputes quickly because members have long-standing social ties.

Translating these strengths to housing simply means expanding the financial target from market trading and daily needs to land acquisition and construction. While adding legal scaffolding (titles, governance documents) so ownership is secure.

‍

Practical examples of people-led models & how they can work.

1. Esusu / Rotating Savings for Land Deposits: Small groups contribute fixed sums regularly. The pooled fund is rotated or used as a down payment for a communal land purchase. Members can then draw lots or agree on a sequence for plot allocation.
2. Housing Cooperatives: Members buy shares (holdings); the coop purchases land, oversees planning approvals, and either builds or facilitates incremental building. Cooperatives create democratic governance and can secure bulk discounts and loans.
3. Fractional Land Ownership: Four to six buyers jointly acquire a single plot, subdivide legally, and each receives a titled portion. Shared common spaces are managed collectively. This gives access to better locations at a lower per-person cost.
4. Age Groups & Informal Associations as Labour/Management Pools: These groups supply subsidized labor and local supervision, lowering construction costs and enabling phased building. They also provide enforcement of community norms and timely contributions.
5. Community Land Trusts (CLTs): A nonprofit body holds the land in trust; members own or lease the housing. CLTs maintain long-term affordability because the trust manages resale rules and can recycle subsidies through sales income.

See the image below for more
‍

‍

Each model can be mixed. A cooperative might use esusu for deposits, then adopt a CLT framework to preserve affordability.

‍

How the "social capital" works: unit economics and flexibility

Community approaches reduce unit cost along three vectors:

1. Bulk purchasing of land/materials,
2. Subsidised or community labour, and
3. Phased spending (buy materials as funds arrive).
4. They also remove a developer’s profit margin and some financing costs.

The payoff isn’t instantaneous market parity; it’s a meaningful reduction in entry cost and greater predictability for families who can build gradually.

‍

How to ensure that it's legal

To scale safely, community projects must adopt transparent governance: member agreements, clear title plans, dispute resolution mechanisms, and professional oversight for technical and legal milestones.

Risk areas include land fraud, title disputes, and internal governance breakdowns. Access to basic legal services, affordable surveyors, and escrow arrangements mitigates these risks.

A simple roadmap: 7 steps for a community group to buy & build

1. Form a core group (5–20 members) and draft clear objectives.
2. Open a group savings account and set contribution rules.
3. Map skills within the group; identify technical leads.
4. Scout and select land; do a preliminary due diligence (planning, flood risk, access).
5. Secure initial deposit; formalize ownership structure (cooperative, trust, or fractional title).
6. Register professional support (architect/drafter, lawyer) for approvals and subdivision.
7. Build incrementally: start with foundations and envelope, then finish as funds permit.

Want a practical example or step-by-step guide for a community group?
View and download this step-by-step template of the roadmap with a legal checklist of this community-led housing alternatives that is practical and easy to implement in Lagos

‍

Conclusion

Community-led housing is simply a pragmatic adaptation. Using proven social systems but adding legal and technical scaffolding to create a path to scale affordability without depending solely on market or state largesse. For Lagos to unlock mass, livable, and proximate housing, policy must meet community energy halfway. Enabling title security, simplifying regulatory processes, and offering light finance.

If you’re already a member of a savings group, cooperative, or local association, the assets you need to own land may already be in your hands. Start the conversation. Organize. Build.

Want a ready checklist or a sample legal agreement for a 4- to 6-person structured fractional land co-ownership pool that saves you all the legwork?

‍

We already built a platform to make that dream happen.

‍