by CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Housing specifically refers to residential structures where people live and grow (UN-Habitat, 2021; Olayiwola & Adeleye, 2020). It responds to humans’ essential need for a conducive and safe living environment (Ademiluyi & Raji, 2018). One variant of this is student housing (commonly referred to as hostels), which remains an integral aspect of higher education institutions worldwide, facilitating a complementary relationship between living and learning (Adebayo & Ojo, 2021).
In Nigeria, student housing was traditionally concentrated on-campus. However, population growth, increasing student enrollment, and shifts in institutional accommodation policies have contributed to the rise of off-campus student housing in university towns across the country (Adepoju & Olaopa, 2022).
Many students now opt to rent private off-campus accommodation for greater privacy, convenience, and flexibility, often to avoid strict institutional regulations. As universities face mounting pressure to provide accommodation amid declining infrastructure and underfunding, many institutions can now only house a fraction of the student body—often prioritizing freshmen, final-year students, athletes, and physically challenged individuals (Okeke & Ezeokoli, 2019).
This housing shortage has led to the phenomenon of “studentification,” characterized by a concentration of students in privately rented housing near campuses (Smith, 2021). Studentification impacts the social and physical fabric of host communities, often resulting in neighborhood transformation, increased rent prices, and tensions between students and long-term residents (Munro & Livingston, 2022).
Historically, up to 75% of students in Nigerian universities had access to on-campus accommodation through the 1980s. Conditions were relatively comfortable, with adequate meals, water, and electricity (Ajayi & Oloyede, 2019). However, this is no longer the case. Overcrowding in available hostels has forced many students to live off-campus under often challenging conditions. For example, institutions like Olabisi Onabanjo University and Moshood Abiola Polytechnic operate as non-residential campuses without adequate housing provision.
Poor planning and chronic underfunding of tertiary institutions in Nigeria have exacerbated the student housing crisis (Ibrahim & Yusuf, 2023). New students arriving from distant regions often experience significant stress and disorientation due to the lack of affordable, decent accommodation. Even where on-campus hostels are available, the cost is usually prohibitive, and living conditions are often deplorable—lacking in basic amenities and unsuitable for serious academic engagement (Adeyemo & Ogunleye, 2022)
Statement of the Problem The state of housing accommodation in Nigeria tertiary institutions are indeed in a deplorable condition. In tertiary institutions worldwide, the provision of accommodation to the students’ population takes different models. This includes; non-residential, where students source for their own accommodation. Residential, where the university houses all its students and dual-residential, where the university houses its student population for a period of time only, probably the first and final year, while the students during the remaining period source for their own accommodations. Tertiary institutions require adequate housing provision so as to be able to accommodate students without any physical, psychological or environmental effect.
