Most government buildings and many houses in the metropolitan centers are essentially French in style. The Crédit du Niger offers housing loans. According to the latest available information, for 1980–88 Niger's housing stock totaled 1,400,000 with 4.6 people per dwelling. The government has been working on projects to increase housing, particularly for low-income families, through the Federal Housing Authority, created in 1976.
The Tuareg nomads live in covered tents, while the Fulani live in small collapsible huts made of straw mats. The villagers in the east live in round straw huts. In the center of the country, villagers construct houses of "banco," a mixture of mud and straw that has, when dried, a hard, cementlike consistency.
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: