Abstract

The study examined rental housing affordability burden of 226 household heads and the strategies for mitigating rental burden. Through a cross-sectional survey, a sample of 285 out of 450 households were obtained using simple random sampling of rental households’ residents in private rental housing in Trademore estate located in the Lugbe district area of Abuja Municipal Area Council. Among the 285 households, 226 were household heads representing 79.3% of the respondents’ households. The household heads were made up of 171 and 55 male and female household heads respectively. Data on household heads’ rental housing affordability burden and strategies for mitigating rental burden, analysed by means of descriptive statistic such as mean rating (MR), frequencies, percentages in SPSS 25 were obtained from respondent 226 household heads through semi structured questionnaire and administered conveniently to accessible and willing respondents. Findings revealed that 15.9% of Household Heads were living in affordable rental with majority of HHH (84.1%) experiencing rental burden. Among the strategies for mitigating rental burden, property investment outside Abuja was rated the first mitigating strategies for Male Household Heads. For Female Household Heads, supplementing incomes with other businesses ranked as the first mitigating strategies. The study recommended that rental affordability should be driven by rental consumers, markets, and legislation through policies solutions that focus on protection of affordability for renters. Also, renters’ engagement in economic activities can augment households’ income needed to mitigate or alleviate rental burden.

Key Word: Affordable housing, Household, Rental affordability, Cost burden