Concept of Admini

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HOUSING MANAGEMENT AND

ADMINISTRATION (HSG 724)

Appraise the concept ofAdministration, Managementand Housing as they relate to

HOUSING ADMINISTRATIONAND MANAGEMENT

BY

OYEYEMI, TOSIN BIDEMIMatric. No. 146672

Being a Term Paper

SUBMITTED TO

DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL

PLANNING,

FACULTY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES,

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN NIGERIA


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LECTURER:DR. SANI LEKAN SANI

APRIL, 2009Appraise the concept of Administration,

Management and Housing as they relate to

HOUSING MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION (HSG

713)

Abstract

From giant multinational operation to tiny, one-manoperations, every enterprise needs an astute administrator todirect and integrate all the components of the enterprise.

Management has been described as the process of planning,organizing, directing and controlling the material, financial,human and informational resources of an organization, so asto achieve the primary goal of the organization.

Built environment have been an incubator of civilization andhave facilitated the evolution of knowledge, culture andtradition as well as industry and commerce. Settlements,properly planned and managed, hold the promise for humandevelopment and the protection of the worlds naturalresources through their ability to support large numbers ofpeople while limiting their impact on the naturalenvironment.1

Housing administration encompasses the array of institutionsinvolved in legislation, policy formulation, financing, land usecontrol, infrastructure provision, and building materialssupply, among others.

People get the impression that insufficient thought has beengiven to questions on management by authorities

1Second United Nation conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II); paragraph 5 of theHabitat Agenda.

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initiated her experiment in housing management with three

houses in London. She set out to prove that if tenements3

were kept in as good condition as possible by competent

managers, the resulting efficiency and economy would not

only be financially beneficial to the owners but would also set

an example of order, cleanliness, and decency to the tenants.

By improving the housing conditions of the working classes,

she hoped to raise the whole standard of living. (Aluko, 2004)

In the same work Aluko, noted further that, Hills influence

has since spread through many countries. For example in

several German cities, companies were formed to buy up old

houses and put them in order. The Philadelphia Octoria HillAssociation embarked on a programme of repairing and

managing old houses in professional housing management,

devoted to efficiency housekeeping in housing developments.

Clark (1968)4 revealed some of their findings. He recalled

that it was quite obvious that management was the poor

relation in housing in Scotland. Too often, people get the

impression that insufficient thought has been given to

questions on management by authorities concentrating onthe highly commendable task of building more houses. The

committees view of the reports as quoted below explains the

salient points in full details:

The result of this attitude of local authorities is

that they have generally failed to accord to

management, the importance and priority among

their affairs, which in our opinion, it requires if asatisfactory service is to be provided,

commensurate with the important part it plays in

the lives of the people living in the houses. We

regard this attitude as nothing less than a failure

3 a piece of property, e.g. land or houses, held by one person but owned by another, it could bea small unit of apartment or a large residential building in a city, usually of three or more storiesand with only basic amenities, where a large number of people live in self-contained rented

apartments.4the Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Housing Management in Scotland when the ScottishHousing Advisory Committee was reconstituted in 1965

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by most Scottish local authority to appreciate their

proper responsibilities.

1.1 Concept of Manangement

Management has been said to be as old as creation as it

permeates all human endeavours. This is because every

human activity has an objective and also involves a set of

actions to bring about the objective. The set of actions

undertaken to bring about the objective of a human activity is

called Management.

One management writer has described management to bethe process of planning, organising, directing and

controlling the material, financial, human and informational

resources of an organisation , so as to achieve the primary

goal of the organisation.

The material resources concern the plant, machinery,

equipment, spare parts and all materials used up in the

organisation. The financial resources are the funds

available to the organisation to meet its obligations to

creditors as they fall due and to undertake investment in

capital assets. Human resources are the people who

perform the required functions and make things happen in

and for the organisation. The informational resources

relate to the facts and figures which form the basis of the

decision-making process and the procedures and systems

which drive the decision-making process.

It is in the light of the above that, Burstiner (1997) has

argued that: to administer any activity, or, for that matter,

any business or institution, is to run it, to direct it, or more

simply to manage it. From giant multinational operation to

tiny, one-man operations, every enterprise needs an astute

administrator to direct and integrate all the components of

the enterprise.

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From the above definition of management, it is discernible

that to manage a business successfully, the manager or

administrator must continually exercise or perform one or

more of the four managerial functions of planning,

organizing, directing and controlling.

Planning: Managers are usually so busy with the

operations of orgnisational business that they tend to

relegate the planning function to the background.

However, the importance of planning cannot be over-

emphasised. A popular saying of quoted says If you fail to

plan, you are inadvertently planning to fail.

Effective management begins with planning. Planning

involves: Problem-solving and decision-making,

Establishing sufficient flexibility for coping with unexpected

outcomes, Setting timetables, Fixing priorities Deciding the

method to be used, and Deciding the people to be

involved.

Organising: Organising means bringing together theresources of a business (i.e. materials, money, people and

information) to carry out the activities of the business to

achieve the objectives of the business.

Directing: After the plan had prepared and the necessary

components organised, then plan is ready to be put into

action and directed. Directing involves leading and

motivating. Leading is the process of influencing people to

work towards a common goal. Leadership involves

interaction (that is, a way of persuading and inducing) and

motivating.

Controlling: A control system is used in evaluating and

regulating ongoing activities to ensure that goals are

achieved. Controlling, therefore, is the process that

includes analysis, setting standards, monitoring, securing

feedback and taking corrective action.

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1.1.1 Characteristics of Good Management

Tom Peters, a co-author of In Search of Excellence who has

addressed major seminars of planners and other local

government staff in USA and UK puts the following conceptforward as characteristics of good managers:

Willingness to change, constant innovation withacceptance of mistakes;

Strong concern for quality Strong awareness of population as clients or customers; Investment training;

Management that can listing, focus on two-waycommunication; Management by walking about meaning that a

manager should experience what happening where it ishappens, rather than simply reviewing reports;

Decentralized management, use of internal profitcentres and use of small cross-department work teamswith clear objectives (matrix organisation);

Networking;

Contracting out of services; Negotiation as an important tools and Working in partnership.

1.2 Concept of Administration

Public administration is often seen as a set of State

institutions, processes, procedures, systems and

organizational structures, practices and behaviour for

managing public affairs to serve the public interest. However,since the latter part of the 1970s, the meaning of public

administration has gradually become diluted, giving way to

the concept of public management.

Public administration, as a bureaucratic organization, is

conceived to work within a set of rules with legitimate,

delegated, legal-rational authority, expertise, impartiality,

continuity, speed and accuracy, predictability,standardization, integrity and professionalism in order to

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satisfy the general public interest. As an instrument of the

State, it is expected to provide the fundamental bases of

human development and security, including freedom of the

individual, protection of life and property, justice, protection

of basic human rights, stability and peaceful resolution of

conflict, whether in allocation and distribution of resources or

otherwise. In this light, effective public administration is

indispensable for the sustainability of the rule of law.

In recent decades, increasing emphasis has been placed on

public management as a craft practiced by specific

individuals in specific managerial roles. An intellectual

development of seminal importance to this movement wasthe appearance in 1938 of Chester Barnards The Functions

of the Executive (1968), which laid the groundwork for new

perspectives, including that of Herbert Simon, on managerial

responsibility. As Frederick Mosher interpreted him, Barnard

defined administrative responsibility as primarily a moral

question or, more specifically, as the resolution of competing

and conflicting codes, legal, technical, personal, professional,

and organizational, in the reaching of individual decisions(Mosher 1968, p. 210).

Barnard clearly influenced John Millett, whose 1954 book,

Management in the Public Service, constitutes an early

example of the craft perspective:

The challenge to any administrator is to overcome

obstacles, to understand and master problems, touse imagination and insight in devising new goals

of public service. No able administrator can be

content to be simply a good caretaker. He seeks

rather to review the ends of organized effort and to

advance the goals of administrative endeavor

toward better public service (1954, p. 401).

1.3 Concept of Housing

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Housing encompasses more than just a house. It is a basic

need; a productive asset with important macroeconomic

linkages; a stake in the urban system; it is a shelter in the

basic sense as protection from the elements; an asset from

which income can be derived through varied uses such as the

creation of rental space or productive space in the dwelling; it

is security; collateral for access to credit; and an investment

for future accumulation of value to be realized in an eventual

resale or through intergenerational transfer. (Government of

South Africa, 1997)

Against this background, housing is defined as a variety of

processes through which habitable. Stable and sustainablepublic and private residential environments are created for

viable households and communities. This recognizes that the

environment within which a house is situated is as important

as the house itself in satisfying the needs and requirements

of the occupants. (IHS, 2004)

2. Housing Administration and Management

2.1 Housing Administration

Housing administration, according to Agunbiade, (2007),

encompasses the full range of institutions involved in

legislation, policy formulation, financing, land use control,

infrastructure provision, and building materials supply,

among others. Each institution has specific responsibilities

the performance of which conduces to the achievement of

overall housing delivery.

Housing administration entails a package of executive

functions performed by the three arms of government,

namely:

i. The Legislature:

The formulation of laws governing the allocation of

land to individuals and institutions for various uses (in

Nigeria, vide Land Use Act, 1978).

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ii. The Executive:

The formulation of policies to guide decisions and

actions towards the achievement of housing policy

objectives (for instance, the identification of specific

housing delivery functions and creation of institutions

charged with execution of those functions; and

The supervision of the performance of various

institutions, professionals, and other individuals in the

execution of various functions in the housing delivery

process.

iii.The Judiciary:

Although not directly involved in the administration of

housing, the judiciary is responsible for adjudicating

between conflicting interests over land and all landed

properties, including housing.

Housing administration is an important component of housing

management; it governs that routine supply and

maintenance of services and infrastructures.

Good housing administration is concern with the nature,

quality and purpose of the totality of relationship that links

the various institutional spheres, local, state, civil society and

the private sectors.

2.2 Housing Management

Housing management is an executive function that rests with

the individual responsible for putting up a particular building

or group of buildings. That individual could be either a

household or an impersonal institution. In either case, the

business of housing management consists in day-to-day

decisions towards making the housing investment profitable

and satisfying to the housing consumer; it usually is a

specialized function undertaken by an individual or group of

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individuals designated estate manager(s). (Agunbiade,

2007)

Good housing management means the effective and efficient

implementation of operations and development decisions.Housing development can be boosted or hindered, depending

on its institutional framework, and its management and

policies in substantive areas.

Specific to housing development and housing management,

the key underlying concept here is investment which, by

definition, indicates the commitment of money, materials,

and manpower to a project with a view to making profit.Thus, housing management involves tying money (capital)

down to housing projects with a view to making profit. (Aluko,

ibid)

Housing management can be defined as follows:

The activity of attempting to mobilize diverse

resources to work in a cooperative manner in the

field of planning, programming and budgeting and

implementing development and its operation and

maintenance of order to achieve housing

objectives. (Davidson, 1996)

Housing as an investment: There are different types of

investment each of which usually has a product for sale or

has an opportunity cost associated with it. The product of

housing investment is the finished (group of) housing unit(s)and the associated services. The group of housing units could

be either in one building, or in a number of separate

buildings. A group of housing units in a number of separate

buildings is usually referred to as an estate; hence, the term

estate manager.

2.2.1 Why Housing Management?

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Need for housing management according to Davidson, 1996,

include but not limited to the following:

To achieve sustainable development

Make optimum use of scarce resources

Make built environment livable

To define and prioritise objectives which are supported

Means to develop commonly supported strategies

2.2.2 Stakeholders in Housing Administration and

Management

Stakeholders in housing administration are:

i. The Central/Federal Government

ii. The State Government

iii.Municipal/Local Government Authority

iv.The Private Sector (Institutions and Households)

Each of these stakeholders should strive for the

establishment of sustainable, society and economically

integrated communities that are situated in areas allowingconvenient access to economic opportunities as well as

health, educational and social amenities, within which all

citizens will have on a progressive basis, access to:

A permanent residential structures with secure tenure,

ensuring and providing protection against element and

Portable water, adequate sanitary facilities including waste

disposal and domestic electricity supply.

The specific role expectations from each of these

stakeholders in administration are as detailed below.

2.2.2.1 The Federal Government

The Federal Government is at the pinnacle of housing

administration in the Nigeria. As such, it is saddled with

formulating overall housing policy, creating institutions withspecific housing delivery functions, and

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monitoring/overseeing the performance of those institutions.

Accordingly, four new institutions have been created, namely:

a Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development; a

National Agency for Housing and Urban Development; a

National Building Standards Organization; and a National

Construction Bank. These institutions with the old ones, and

their functions, are outlined below.

i. Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development:

This Ministry if saddled with eleven functions including,

among others, the formulation of policy and setting of

standards for the housing sector (Federal Republic of

Nigeria, 2001:23-24);ii. National Agency for Housing and Urban Development:

The Agency shall, among other things, in addition to the

Ministry itself, formulate a National Building Plan and

review it from time to time, and monitor the

implementation of housing policy; it shall also set up a

Trust for the administration of the National Housing

Trust Fund (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1991: pp. 23-

31);iii.Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria: The Bank shall,

among other things, mobilize and collect long term

funds for housing development; the Bank shall also

mobilize off-shore funds for housing development. Part

of the Banks duties is to encourage the growth of

Primary Mortgage Institutions and the establishment of

a viable secondary mortgage sector; that is in addition

to supervising the operations of the Primary Mortgage.Housing Trust Fund. the Primary Mortgage Institutions

and the Federal Housing Trust Fund can also be

regarded as institutions under Federal control.

iv.National Building Standards Organization: They shall set

the standards, monitor and approve the quality of

building materials and construction technology used in

the country. Besides, they shall promote the training of

manpower for the construction industry.

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v. Federal Housing Authority: They are the cutting edge of

the public sector building activity in the sense that they

among other things:

Develop and manage real estates on commercial basisin all States of the Federation and the Federal Capital

Territory;

Provide site and services for all income groups with

special emphasis on low-income group.

vi.National Construction Bank: This Bank is primarily

focused on the private sector, in that:

It provides bridging loans to the estate developers in

order to ensure quick completion of projects.

It facilitates development and construction through its

low-interest rate in Nigeria.

2.2.2.2 The State government

The State Government are expected to:

Formulate their own housing policies and programmes

within the overall framework and in the spirit of thenational policy;

Establish appropriate agencies and utilize Housing

Corporations to execute the public housing

programmes. State government are also expected to

promote and facilitate the development of Site and

Services Scheme and

Play an active role in the identification, production and

use of building materials from local resources in order toensure availability of inexpensive building materials for

housing development. State governments shall also

strengthen the existing Planning Authorities and

establish new ones where they do not presently exist.

2.2.2.3 The Local Government

Local Governments, presumably through their respectivePlanning Authorities are expected to:

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procured for use in executing the project. For example,

a proposed housing project must have as its inputs a

piece of land, cement, sand, gravel, paint, wood and

nails of various types, water, roofing sheets, ceiling

sheets, tie rods, professional skills of various types

including architecture and structural engineering,

masonry, and of course, unskilled labour. We go further

to illustrate the structure of the housing feasibility

document and its use in managing a housing project.

(Agunbiade, 2007)

ii. Managers Checklist: The checklist contains a list of

specific aspects of a residential building, including the

structure, the fittings, and the environment among other

things, whose condition of fitness has to be routinely

monitored, to ensure their integrity.

3. Housing Administration and Management in Nigeria

Nigeria has been ruled by, basically, three types of

government, namely:

a. Colonial, that is, before national independence;b. More or less non-dictatorial - civilian; and

c. More or less dictatorial - military

The history of housing management and administrations in

Nigeria has been chronologically traced with accuracy by

many authors, planners and housing managers in various

books.5

The distinguishing factor between the military and civilian

housing administrators (as noted by the literatures listed

5 Housing Development and Management: A book of Readings (2007) edited by Tunde Agbola, Layi

Egunjobi and C. O. Olatubara, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan, Ibadna

Nigeria, pages 815-821.

National Housing Policy (1991 and 2006) by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Housing of Nigerians: A Review of Policy Development and Implementation (1998), by T. Agbola

Development Policy Centre, Ibadan Nigeria, pages 98-103

Housing and Urban Development in Nigeria (2004) by Ola Aluko, Lukson Press, University of Ibadan,

Ibadan Nigeria, pages 293-297

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below and host of others) is the extent to which each type of

government considered consultation with the housing-

consuming public and other stakeholders, and accountability,

in the housing delivery process relevant or important in

housing policy administration and management.

3.1 Military and Civilian Regimes Compared

Housing Development and Management: A Book of Reading

concluded that:

The rule of law in housing and related matters

was more or less a common factor under bothtypes of government, although there was a

tendency towards arbitrariness by the military

themselves in the acquisition and use of land and

landed property. Military force was known in many

instances to have been used to coarse and

intimidate powerless individuals into capitulation

over disputes on landed properties. Otherwise,

many housing institutions were created, and quitea few housing and related matters decrees were

promulgated under the military, as they were

under civilians, that is, allowing for the very much

longer rule of the military.

The book (ibid) further noted that, Nigeria has been governed

more or less by a welfare-state philosophy. Government has

tried to play a lead role through direct investment in the

key sectors of the economy; a lot of resources except by

rhetoric and half-hearted action on housing rent control, for

instance, everybody can sell and buy as much of anything as

they can afford, including housing and related things.

A renewed commitment, with new zeal, has, however, been

made to the free-market doctrine by the new civilian regime

as witnessed the various liberalization policies. Housing and

housing related liberalization has been marked by a policy of

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government disengagement from direct investment in

housing, and direct ownership of housing property either for

commercial purposes or for allocation to government

workers. In fact, the new civilian government has embarked

on sale of government-owned houses all over the country. It

is in this respect that one can say there has been a difference

in housing administration and management, between the

military and civilian regimes in Nigeria. The democratic

dispensation that has been adjudged the preferred mode of

governance has been riddled with the party patronage and

favoritism syndrome, which breeds corruption, inefficiency

and ineffectiveness of housing and other polices. This is

comparable to the effect of dictatorship and arbitrariness of

the military. (Agunbiade, 2007)

4. Conclusion and Recommendation

In a centralized organization, (like we have in Nigeria) the

decisions are made by top executives or on the basis of pre-

set policies. These decisions or policies are then enforced

through several tiers of the organization after graduallybroadening the span of control until it reaches the bottom

tier.

However, to achieve the objectives of housing affordability,

sustainability, accessibility, acceptability and to satisfy the

housing demand and needs and to increase the housing

supply in Nigeria, housing administration and management

has to be decentralized.

Citizen participation has become an increasingly important

component of development planning and environmental

decision-making worldwide. Stakeholders are becoming more

and more effective at derailing projects that are not

perceived as responsive to local concerns and needs. If a

planning process is not seen as transparent, citizens are

likely to oppose a project, regardless of its actual costs or

benefits. As a result, encouraging public participation has

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become a high priority for funding institutions, government

agencies, planners, and politicians in recent years in

developed and developing societies.

Decentralization also called departmentalization is the policyof delegating decision-making authority down to the lower

levels in an organization, relatively away from and lower in a

central authority. A decentralized organization shows fewer

tiers in the organizational structure, wider span of control,

and a bottom-to-top flow of decision-making and flow of

ideas.

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References

Agunbiade Boye (2007): Housing Administration and

Management in Nigeria in Tunde Agbola, Layi Egunjobiand C. O. Olatubara (ed), Housing Developemnt andManagement: A Book of Readings Department of Urbanand Regional Planning, University of Ibadian, IbadanNigeria pp 801-821.

Aluko, Ola (2004):, The Administration of Housing inNigeria in Housing and Urban Development in Nigeria.Lukson Press, University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria,pages 293-297

Bateman S. Thomas and Snell A. Scott, 2004, Management:The New Competitive Landscape, the McGraw HillCompanies, Inc. international Edition p. 30.

Davidson, F (1996), Planning for Performance: Requirementfor Sustainable Development; Habitat Intl. Vol. 20. No. 3pp. 445-462.

Fayol, Henri Frenchman, 1966, Administration industrielle et

gnrale - prvoyance organisation - commandement,coordination contrle, Paris : Dunod, 1966; Cited inWikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Management Accesses on24/04/09

Federal Republic of Nigeria (2006): National Housing Policypages 2-11, 18-26.

Follett, Parker Mary, 2003, Vocational Business: Training,Developing and Motivating People by Richard Barrett -Business & Economics - 2003. - Page 51. Cited inWikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management Accesses on24/04/09

Government of South Africa, 1997. Urban DevelopmentFramework; The Department of Housing pages 1,2,16.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%20Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Parker_Folletthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%20Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Parker_Folletthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management


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Institute for Housing and Urban Development (IHS) 2004, TheTheory and Practice of Local Democracy/New PublicManagement: Key Concept; International Course inHousing and Urban Development (ICHUD 86) Lecture

Handouts; IHS Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Laurence E. Lynn, Jr. Sydney Stein, Jr., 2001, PublicManagement: The University of Chicago page 6http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/About/publications/working.papers/ pdf/wp_01_24.pdf Accessed on 26/04/09.

Mosher, Frederick C. 1968. Democracy and the PublicService. New York: Oxford University Press. Cited inLaurence E. Lynn, Jr. Sydney Stein, Jr., 2001, PublicManagement

Peters, T. J. and Waterman, R. F., (1982), In Search ofExcellence, cited in Davidson, F (1996), Planning forPerformance: Requirement for SustainableDevelopment; Habitat Intl. Vol. 20. No. 3 pp. 445-462.

Sharma, Chanchal Kumar (2005a) 'When Doesdecentralization deliver? The Dilemma of Design', South

Asian Journal of Socio-Political Studies 6(1):38-45 citedin Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, (2008):Decentralisation, Cited in Wikipedia, the freeencyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralisation Accesses on24/04/09

United Nations, 2004, Revitalizing public administration as astrategic action for sustainable human development: an

overview in Economic and Social Council by Committeeof Experts on Public Administration, Third session NewYork, 29 March-2 April 2004, Agenda item 3E/C.16/2004/2

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