COST OF HOUSING

The cost of housing in my environment used to be cheap, but since the last two years it's been nothing close to cheap. I remember as a student, a single room cost about 5000 naira a month which would sum up to about 60,000 naira annually. When I talk with students today, you hear them saying the least their landlord is asking for is 8,000 monthly, for some even pay up to 10,000 monthly. Now the room I am even talking about doesn’t have a bathroom and kitchen, the ones with bathroom and kitchen which we would normally call self-contained cost about 15,000 naira a month and to be honest that’s if the landlord is just being generous. Most You hear is about 20,000 to 25,000 monthly and when you look at the house you will wonder why the hell the landlord thinks his house is worth such. But the truth is that money isn’t even the issue if the houses are okay. Imagine living in a one bedroom apartment that looks like the landlord had built his house and forgot to put toilet and kitchen. When he remembers he’s like okay let’s manage this space for it, whoever rents it would stand to bathe and sit to use the toilet.

Photo by BoUy MOON on Unsplash

This is my life currently and it’s one reason I don’t just want to move out of the house, but also move out of that environment. I do not mind paying heavily for comfort if I can conveniently afford it. I can’t count how many times I have injured myself in the process of cooking. My partner is worse because she can be clumsy at times and forgets the doorway is small. Now with all this complaining, you will be grateful to see a landlord that would charge 30,000 naira monthly. My landlord is one of the few who tries to be fair, and when I see him thinking about increasing the rent, I remind him the house is too small for the price he wants to get for it. In the last two years my rent has increased three times, and although the increase isn’t that much, it’s still a pain when I think about how much I pay for where I live. Moreso, my landlord always reminds me that although his house is small, it’s still cheap compared to what others pay and truth be told, he is very correct. I have helped friends find accommodation, and the price is over the roof.

If I am to move I would prefer to live in my company estate, but then I would have to pay around 40,000 to 45,000 a month but it comes with estate security, 18 hours of light and proximity to my place of work with one major issue. Taxis are not allowed inside the estate, and most people living there either have a car or a bike. I can drive though, but I don’t have a car, and I might be able to afford a bike, but I can’t ride one lol. The major things I look out for in a house are space, development, and electricity. I wouldn’t want to be relying on other sources of power as a major source and still be spending heavily on rent. I like to also consider the proximity to work which would determine how much I spend. Currently I spend almost 80,000 naira monthly on office logistics, if I add that money to rent and do not have to spend it, I think I would not mind. But then again, It still bothers me how the engineers in my current environment build their houses, because 90% of the houses have toilet issues.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 180 EPISODE 1