SOCIAL HOUSING - A TOOL FOR POST-CONFLICT RECOVERY IN RURAL COMMUNITIES IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54938/ijemdss.2025.04.2.564Keywords:
Social housing, Post conflict recovery, Internal displacement, Planned rural settlements, Peacebuilding, Community reintegrationAbstract
Conflict driven displacement in rural Benue State has created persistent housing insecurity and weakened pathways for reintegration and recovery. This article examines social housing and planned rural settlements as tools for post conflict recovery, drawing on a quantitative survey of conflict affected rural communities in Benue State (n = 338 valid responses). Using descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression, the study aligns with three objectives: assessing housing and resettlement challenges, evaluating the peacebuilding and reintegration potential of social housing and planned settlements, and examining perceived contributions of social housing to sustainable rural development. Results show that housing and resettlement challenges did not significantly predict perceived social housing outcomes (R² = 0.008, p = .831), and sustainable rural development indicators also did not significantly explain outcome ratings (R² = 0.010, p = .772). In contrast, the peacebuilding and reintegration model was statistically significant overall (R² = 0.038, p = .043), indicating that perceptions of social housing outcomes are more strongly associated with peace related dimensions than with general challenge indicators or broader development claims. The findings suggest that effective post conflict housing in rural Benue should be designed as a settlement-based recovery platform with conflict sensitive allocation, participatory governance, and integrated service and livelihood packages to translate shelter provision into durable reintegration and rural transformation
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Copyright (c) 2025 Kenneth Bai, Mamman Alhassan
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