The homeless in Ibadan

HABfTAATIN7’L. Vol. 13,No. Printed in Great Britain.

I.pp.

75-85.

0197-3975189 $3.00 + 0.w.l Pcrgamon Press plc

1989.

The Homeless

in Ibadan

OLUSOLAADEBOLALABEODAN*

Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, Nigeriu

ABSTRACT

Homelessness is a phenomenon associated with cities of the Third World, where resources are too limited to supply decent shelter for everyone while at the same time meeting other basic needs. In 1987, the plight and housing conditions of the homeless were highlighted, analysed and the machinery to solve them set in motion. This paper is part of a recently-concluded research project by the author on the “Homeless in Nigeria”. It therefore examines some of the critical issues of homelessness such as its dimensions, causes, consequences, socio-economic characteristics and society’s perception of the homeless in Nigeria using Ibadan (an urban centre) as a case study. INTRODUCTION

It is a common feature in many regions of the world for people to live in crowded cabins which pass for homes. In areas like Mushin, Maroko and Ajegunle in Lagos State, Nigeria, beds are normally improvised from tables after rooms are taken over by floods which were occasioned by light or heavy rainfalls. Again, many Lagosians live under the countless bridges in the city. These people wake and retire daily to these bridges. In Diobu in Port-Harcourt, as in Brigade in Kano, people live in squalor and refer to it as shelter. It is the same in UnoOkpete in Enugu, Kawo and Agwan Saraki in Kaduna. People live in situations which are plainly undesirable for human habitation but this ugly situation is not peculiar to Nigeria. It is a world-wide phenomenon, be it in India, Ghana, Zambia, China, Britain and America, the story is the same. In recognition of this universal predicament, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlement (Habitat) has set aside 5 October of every year to mark the problem. In the year 1987 it was dubbed “World Habitat Day 1987”, with the theme “Shelter for the Homeless”. According to the United Nations, more than one billion people (that is roughly one-fifth of the world’s population) are poorly housed or have inadequate shelter while 100 million have no shelter at all (Shelter News, 1987). That is why the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution 371221 of December, 1982 declared 1987 as International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (IYSH). It is at one level an attempt to connect the critical problems of global poverty and homelessness. But more than that, it is an attempt to galvanise national governments and others to act now to solve urgent shelter needs. THE RESEARCH

PROBLEM

Homelessness is a problem and has been primarily a reflection of problems of access to housing, the fact that some people lack shelter and live in extremely *Address for correspondence: Ibadan, Nigeria.

Physical

Development

75

Department.

NISER.

PMB

05. UI Post

Office.

Olusola Adebola Labeodan

76

deplorable conditions or are unable to find anywhere to live. The IYSH is a strategy of the United Nations to direct attention to and increase the awareness of nations and their leaders to the continued neglect or insufficient attention paid to the housing problems of the poor. Thus, the main purpose of this international programme is to secure renewed political commitment within and among nations to help the poor and disadvantaged to improve their shelter and neighbourhoods by the year 2000. The organisation was of the view that if the present trend of urbanisation and homelessness continue by the year 2000, one billion new urban dwellers most of them poor will be crowding into towns and cities already strained to the limit. Homeless persons could be regarded as “people who live in conditions so bad that a decent and civilised type of life is virtually impossible”. It is a fact of life that those who become homeless are often those least able to cope in the society as a whole, who are poorest in financial, intellectual and morale terms. They live in substandard houses or as tenants in squatter or slum areas. Depending on the definition used, between one and three million people are housed in substandard dwellings and homelessness is increasingly evident (Murrie, 1973). It is clear that the man-made environment is undergoing such violent changes that many countries have no power to control their growth. It is necessary to bear in mind the magnitude of this phenomenon for which governments are unprepared, and the meagreness of financial resources. It is therefore pertinent to say that the United Nation’s proclamation of 1987 as International Year of Shelter for the Homeless was a good step in the right direction. Thus, this paper attempts to define who are the homeless within the Nigerian socio-economic milieu and what are the dimensions, spatial variation, causes and consequences of homelessness, using Ibadan as a case study.

METHODOLOGY

A preliminary survey of areas where the homeless (those who lack real/physical homes) reside was done and an actual field survey was conducted between June and July, 1987. This period falls in the peak of the rainy season in south-western Nigeria and it is particularly important because the actual homeless persons can be contacted during this period since they are looking for shelters to protect them from the rains. The basic data used in the research study was collected through direct interviews and field observations. A set of structured questionnaires was directed to the destitute per se who lacked shelter, found mostly in the commercial sectors and hideouts in Ibadan. A night survey was also conducted between 10 p.m. and 12 midnight, a period when people retire home for a good night’s rest. About 200 people were interviewed and their categories are indicated in Table 1. Not much statistical computation was done considering the nature and type of research problem. Simple tables were used to illustrate most of the data collected. Photographs were used where necessary.

THE HOMELESS

According to the broad homeless are:

DEFINED

(worldwide)

WITHIN

definition

THE NIGERIAN

(as evident

CONTEXT

in IYSH posters)

“the pavement dwellers, those who sleep in doorways, subways, recesses of public buildings and those rendered homeless by natural or man-made

the

77

The Homeless in Ibadan Table I. Total number of homeless interviewed Category 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Numbers

of homeless

Flood victims Refugees Call girls Able-bodied and disabled Load carriers Motor park touts

beggars

Total Source:

disasters. access to personal education income”.

Labeodan.

interviewed

% total

35 15 8 30 35 77

17.5 7.5 4.0 15.0 17.5 38.5

200

100.0

1987

The homeless are those who lack real homes that is, those with less safe water and sanitation, those lacking security of tenure and safety, those not within the reach of centres of employment, and healthcare and those with high rent burden relative to their

Within

the Nigerian context. the homeless can be defined as follows: diiplaced as a result of disasters like floods, erosion, riots, fires etc. ; as well as those displaced as a result of public acquisition of land; (2) tenants and owner occupiers in sub-marginal living conditions in cities and villages; (3) the disabled, the wandering psychotic as well as vagabonds who require rehabilitation and shelter; the aged and the poor who are helpless and those who by virtue of their (4) circumstances do not have access to land and financial resources (IYSH Seminar, 1984). Onibokun (1987) in a paper presented at a conference on “Shelter for the Homeless” identified and characterised six different types of homelessness. These are: (1) temporary/transient homeless persons; (2) permanently roving able-bodied homeless persons; (3) permanently roving disabled homeless persons; (4) marginally housed people in abandoned slums; (5) marginally housed people abandoned to home-sharing in discomfort; (6) homelessness by choice.

(1) those

RESEARCH

According to research findings, Ibadan City specifically as:

Labeodan

FINDINGS

(1987) defined

the homeless

within

“those displaced by flood, drought, fire disasters; refugees/illegal immigrants; psychotic or mentally retarded people; disabled and able-bodied beggars; those sleeping under bridges, pavements and roadside kerbs. Those who lack real homes in the sense of it and the “social lepers” - these are destitutes, orphans, the jobless and poverty stricken ones with no place to lay their heads, no salary and no helper” (see Figs l-3). The attitude of the society towards the homeless people is callous indifference and total neglect. The government - to say the least - is trying its best, but much is still left to be done to house them. To leave these truly destitute persons at the mercy of the individuals who throw kobo coins at them with benign pride is unjust.

78

Olusoln Adehola Lubeodun

Fig. I. A destitute at a bus shelter settling for the night

Fig. 2. A lunatic without a home sitting h,v the roud kerh.

Table 2 shows a total of 530 and 1,650 persons found in selected sampled locations during the evening and night counts respectively. These are the total number of destitutes without real homes in the various areas identified as the “homeless haven in Ibadan”. 200 persons were interviewed and Out of the 1,650 persons identified, projections were made for other similar parts of the town known to harbour the homeless and the study came up with an estimated number of homeless (apart

The Homeless in Ihadan

79

Fig. 3. The homeless on a bedfoam placed on a table preparing for the night amidst animals.

Table 2. Number of homeless persons during evening and night survey in Ibadan

Location 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Number 4-7 p.m.

in Ibadan

Dugbe market area Gbagi-New Court Road-Ogunpa General Post Office Nigerian railway corporation Agodi-Gate Area SaboiMokola MoleteiChallenge Mapo-Oritamerin-Agbeni *Bodija-Iso Pako Ojoo

Oyo-Labanon

Source: Labeodan. 1987. *The survey was carried out before

the central

50 80 2 15 70 59

19 45 5 71 245 178

45 115 93

105 827 155

530

1,650

Street

Total

market

of homeless persons 10 p.m.-12 m/night

of MapoiOritamerin

was moved

to BodijaiIso

Pako.

from those living in sub-marginal houses) to be about 15,735 persons in 1987 in Ibadan. By the year 2010, this number would increase to about 40,714 homeless persons. The number of people living in poverty and squalor, continue to grow unabated and along with these have adverse effects on the quality of the built and natural environments and on the economic development of the nation. All the areas indicated in Table 2 were selected business/commercial activity sections of the town. The choice of these areas was determined by spatial differentiation and problem concentration because the two criteria are coterminous. The homeless found in these areas sleep on road kerbs, pavements, inside old train coaches/vehicles (danfo buses) and in front of closed market stalls. It was found that night guards harbour some of these homeless persons under the pretext that they too are guards. They play cards till about 2 a.m. and then sleep on benches for tables. In the morning they go begging for alms or work as load carriers. Most of the homeless youths in the research study come from broken homes and refuse to go to school. They mingle with friends and get involved in bad AA813:1-p

80

Olusola Adebola Labeodarl

social habits, drink alcohol, smoke Indian hemp, shoplift, pick pocket and even carry out robberies. This set of people have really constituted a menace to the socio-economic development of the nation. The homeless figure at Bodijai Isopako (Table 2) is quite striking. Here, animal sheds or stalls are converted into rooms (Fig. 3); mattresses or mats are then placed on the tables. The major reason accountable for such practice here is that they cannot even afford to pay rent, no matter how minimal, so they resort to sleeping in stalls/sheds where no landlord can eject them. THE NATURE

OF HOMELESSNESS

IN IBADAN

METROPOLITAN

AREA

During the survey different categories of the homeless were identified but very few of them were willing to give information. The types of homeless persons identified are: single parents, divorcees, load-carriers, cleaners, bus conductors, touts, street hawkers, call girls, beggars, disabled/handicapped people, refugees and flood victims. About 85% of this group of people earn their income from begging for alms and performing other menial jobs while 5% do not have any source at all except that they live at the mercy of the people (Labeodan, 1987). About 49.5% of the homeless interviewed live in market stall frontages, sleep on pavement and roadside kerbs, in make-shift tents and inside old train coaches and vehicles while 50.5% are squatters. Age of respondent It was observed that the ages of respondents vary between 20 and 60 years. About 51.5% of respondent’s ages fall between 21 to 40 years as indicated in Table 3. While 35% of respondents have their ages below 20 years, only 0.5% of respondents were above 60 years old. This is an indication that the people who are really homeless within Ibadan City are the youths and middle-aged persons who are aged below 40 years and altogether constitute 86% of the total sampled. Educational background of the homeless The level of educational attainment also affects the degree of homelessness in Nigeria. The educational background of the homeless in Ibadan is very low and the majority of persons interviewed are not educated beyond secondary school level. This in turn affects their occupation and productivity level, that is, the type of work they do and also their income which is very low and the type and quality of housing they can afford. Table 4 shows that 35,48.5 and 16.5% of respondents have no education, primary six, and secondary school education respectively. Employment distribution of the homeless Typical unemployment is the major characteristic of the real homeless persons in the Ibadan Metropolitan area. Before this survey was carried out, 47% were Table 3. Age Age in years o-21 21-40 41-60 Above

Ibadan

60

Total Source:

Labeodan,

qf respondent

1987

Total

(%)

70 103 26 1

35.0 51.5 13.0 0.5

200

100.0

The Homeless in Ibadan Table 4. Educational

background Ibadan

Level of education

of the real homeless

Number

None Primary six Secondary school Total Source: Labeodan,

Employed Number

Total

in

(%)

70 97 33

35.0 48.5 16.5

200

100.0

1987.

Table 5. Employment

Response

81

before

of the homeless irt Ibadan Now/still Number

survey %

employed c/c

Yes No

94 106

47.0 53.0

38 168

19.0 81.0

Total

200

100.0

200

100.0

Source: Labeodan.

1987

gainfully employed while 53% were unemployed. At the time the survey was conducted, those employed constituted 19% while unemployed constituted 81% as shown in Table 5. The employment table shows the erratic and unreliable nature of the homeless employment situation. An implication of this is that majority (81%) of the homeless who in one way or the other should contribute to the labour force in Oyo State in particular and the nation as a whole are now out of work and this worsens their predicament. Most of these people are artisans who do menial jobs or whose only source of income is through begging for alms. Income structure of the homeless in Ibadan The income distribution of the homeless within Ibadan City is also very erratic. In fact when respondents were asked about their present earning capacity in the various jobs they are engaged in, 94.5% can best be described as no-income earners because they earn below Wl,OOOin a year while 5.5% earn a little over Wl,OOO in a year. Most of the respondents were illiterates, retrenched or physical/mentally retarded and even refused to search for gainful employment (Table 6).

CAUSES

OF HOMELESSNESS

It is necessary to examine the causes of homelessness in the wider sense and the apparent anomalies of the problem. Homelessness can be attributable to Table 6. Income distribution of the homeless Income

(W/year)

Number

o- 1,000 2,001-3,000 Above 3,000

189 8 2 1

Total

200

I ,OOl-2.000

Source:

Labeodan,

1987

Percentage 94.5 4.0 1.0 0.5 100.0

total

Olusola Adebola Labeodan

82

economic, social, political as well as the cultural factors within the Nigerian economy. These factors are closely bound up with the indispensable equilibrium within the distribution of resources and wealth among the population. Social stratification, social relations, and social change together with demographic factors and increased mobility of population from less affluent areas create pressure points for accommodation and greater mobility of the young and active. This plays a very significant role in the issue of homelessness and the satisfaction of this fundamental need for housing. The evolution of the employment structure and market, bound up with the technical and technological means of construction, has a considerable effect on the degree of response to the steadily growing housing demand. This is where the role of planning comes in. Planners should place more emphasis on planning, devising, controlling, programming, implementing and managing the organisation of space and the built environment as a prerequisite of action of rectifying the imbalances in the built environment. In addition to the above broad causes of homelessness, five other specific factors were highlighted as causing homelessness during the research survey (Table 7). It can be observed from Table 7 that 34.5% of the homeless came from broken homes or absconded from home. This is particularly rampant among the homeless youths. Also it can be seen that 15.0% were rejected at home due to physical handicap or disability caused during accidents and 26.5% of respondents were displaced during the Ogun flood and drought disasters. This group of people have since been looking for accommodation, an exercise which has become futile, so they resolve to squatting or sleeping in animal sheds. Due to frustration, loneliness and depression 4.5% of respondents became homeless. The present depressive economic situation affects this group of low income earners whose heavy financial burden brings about emotional and mental strains. However, the factors causing homelessness cannot be over-exhausted and they range from mismatch between supply and demand for housing to migration, fast demographic growth, obsolete ancient housing stock, irrational employment and to historical and cultural reasons.

CONSEQUENCES

OF HOMELESSNESS

An increase in the numbers of homeless persons combined with a deteriorating housing stock constitutes a threat to the nation’s quality of life and housing. The consequences of homelessness as found in the research could be grouped into three; social, economic and moral effects. Homelessness has had a very devastating impact on people especially morally and socially. The homeless frequently experience deterioration of their basic skills and a loss of selfconfidence and security because of the inability to participate in the normal life of the family and the community at large. The homeless become maladjusted

Table 7. Causes

of homelessness in Ibadnn Number

Causes Broken home/absconded from home Ejected/rejected from home Loneliness and depression Inability to pay rent Natural disaster - flood. drought Total Source:

Laheodan.

1987

% total

69 30 9 39 53

34.5 15.0 4.5 19.5 26.5

200

100.0

The Homeless in Ibadarl

83

because of the feeling of inequality, lack of respect from other people and other social problems which in turn have a psychological effect on them. This later results in depression or even mental retardation. On the economic side, the present economic crisis in the society makes it really impossible for people to pay their rents. Hence, they prefer to squat or live in makeshift tents where no landlord will molest them for lack of rent payment. This has been observed and reported in earlier discussions. Onibokun (1987) actually reiterated that “the homeless and marginally housed people such as slum and pavement dwellers are the easy victims for barons of social vices such as drug peddlars, human assasins, armed robbers, interlopers and vagabonds”. The homeless do not have a sense of belonging, they feel alienated, lack self-esteem and run the risk of being isolated in the community.

RECOMMENDATIONS

An analytical discussion of homelessness in a typical urban centre in Nigeria has been reiterated in this paper. The various characteristics, causes and consequences of homelessness have also been examined. It was noted that the homelessness enigma is more prevalent among the economically weaker and low income sectors in the society. It is evident that poverty is one of the attributes of homelessness. It is both a cause and an effect. Poverty deprives people of urban opportunity; it is also a consequence of urban deprivation. Solutions to the problems of homelessness are difficult and as intractable as the eradication of poverty itself. The homeless have been described as all those whose living conditions are below the minimum acceptable standards recognised by the society they live in. Homelessness is not only the lack of roof over one’s head; it is also a loss, or absence of identity, security and belonging. The homeless can be regarded as citizens without a city. They live and work in the urban settlement as citizens but they really have no access to the opportunities and as a social group, an extraneous entity by the established urban dlites. Garau (1987) was of the opinion that homelessness is a sine qua non of “city-1essness” - the condition of being a citizen without a city. He referred to this situation as a modern urban dimension of homelessness. In a bid to minimise homelessness or eradicate it completely in the Nigerian socio-economic milieu, the following recommendations are made specifically for the physically homeless persons (the street people) on the one hand and to the government on the other hand. (1) The responsibility of assisting homeless persons requires the co-operative efforts of non-profit, public and private organisations. This is because the increased number of homeless persons and the impact of homelessness on the well-being of cities - on physical, social and economic structures requires new involvement by the government and private sector. (2) The establishment of “a homeless persons unit” within the Ministry of Information, Social Development, Welfare and Sports is called for both at the federal and state levels. The federal level would deal with the coordination of all the activities and state levels would deal with welfare of the homeless persons. (3) Along with shelter programmes for the homeless in this group, that is, the physically homeless, appropriate support services should be provided to create employment, education and training for the people. (4) Rental assistance in the form of rent subsidy should be given to the poorest and economically weaker sectors in the society, that is, the physically homeless.

Olusola Adebola Labeodan

84

(5) Involvement of trusted and dedicated voluntary organisations and nongovernmental organisations (e.g. Red Cross Society, Rotary Club, Lions Club, Jaycees) would be a positive step in finding appropriate shelter solutions to the homeless especially in the planning and implementation of shelter programmes. These organisations could provide the motivation and necessary linkages to secure institutional and other support for the poor and disadvantaged in securing shelter. (6) The role of churches cannot be ignored in offering assistance for the homeless. They should go beyond their churches to help the homeless morally and financially. (7) The government should have a firm commitment to invest more in the future in the housing sector for the homeless. (8) The government should emphasise and encourage a system of self-help construction by the homeless. This would allow them to grant investment efforts and a recovery and retraining of a labour force, which would not fail in the future to redynamise the building sector and to exert a multiplier effect on the national economy. (9) There is the need for radical changes in the attitude of the government, planners and the society towards the homeless.

CONCLUSION The needs of the homeless in Nigeria are urgent and pervasive. Although there is no actual documentation on the number of homeless, it is clear that they are increasingly significant in both urban and rural areas. From a housing perspective, being without a home is the end of a rented housing supply that is increasingly inadequate in terms of conditions, unit sizes and rent levels. Homelessness as observed in this study has its greatest impact in the inner core parts of the city, commercial areas and areas commonly referred to as “no man’s land”. It should be recognised that homelessness is both a national and international problem reflecting the dynamic changes taking place in the society. Homelessness is a crisis when close to a quarter of the world’s inhabitants lack adequate shelter, when thousands of individuals call the street their home. It is a crisis when 30-50% of the inhabitants of some large cities in developing countries live in slum/squatter settlements. The homeless have equal rights and claims to all the basic needs, resources and space in the society. It should be borne in mind in the words of Perez de Cuellar (1987) that, “a society is judged not so much by the standards attained by its most affluent and privileged members as by the quality of life which it is able to assure for the weakest citizens”.

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