Abstract:
Housing is defined as the physical structure, shelter or building in which people are housed for lodging, living accommodation or a collection of a shelter and related infrastructures, which make life worth-while. The aim of this study is to investigate the assessment of land use conversion in housing development in Apete, Nigeria, with a view to suggesting measures to solve housing problems in the study area. In the course of this survey, 292 questionnaires were administered on households and retrieved. Systematic random sampling technique was adopted where data was extrapolated from respondents in the study area via a house-head interviewed per building at the interval of ten buildings. Findings from this study revealed that lands were converted at a spontaneous rate in the area as a result of the residents who possess the financial strength to acquire land and convert it to their own choice of usage. It was also discovered that lands were being converted in the area as a result of some key factors which are location of tertiary intuition, centrality of the area, ignorance among others. In conclusion, the study should be aggressive in public enlightenment programme to sensitize the people of this locale on the need to avoid spontaneous residential land use to other uses without the approval of the institution of government responsible for urban land use control and development and The Development Control Department of Oyo State Ministry of Lands, Housing and survey and Urban Development should be on their toes. Routine monitoring and inspection of development on land should be sustained to guard against continued haphazard development occasioned by spontaneous land use conversion in Apete, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria.
