Knowledge as a Determinant of Acceptability of Compressed Stabilized Laterite Bricks for Affordable Housing in Nigeria

Widening gap in housing need and housing supply to the populace has led to an apparent housing crisis in Nigerian urban centres. Various studies concluded that an acquisition of indigenous building materials is the way out of the housing crisis. The National Housing Policy in Nigeria has recognized earth in form of Compressed Stabilized Laterite Bricks (CSLBs) as one of the abundant indigenous building materials that can ease the housing supply crisis. Despite the call for acquisition of CSLBs in housing provision, the urban populace have not embraced its use as an acceptable building material for housing. This paper conducted a survey of randomly selected members of the urban populace in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. It was found out that the root cause of the apathy towards acceptability of CSLBs for housing is due to lack of knowledge about its physical properties. Lack of prototype CSLBs buildings in the urban landscape in addition to other socio-cultural factors were also identified as contributing factors. The paper concluded that the key to the acceptability of CSLBs as a building material for affordable housing by the urban populace lie with adequate public enlightenment through media campaigns and prototype buildings.