Housing in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso’s formal housing system exists alongside extensive self-building, informal housing acquisition, and frequently incomplete documentation. Housing conditions differ substantially between cities and rural areas. According to the 2019 General Population and Housing Census (RGPH 2019), 83.3% were owners, 10.2% ordinary tenants, 4.6% were housed free of charge, and 0.7% were users under a rent-to-own model. The 2021 Harmonized Household Living Conditions Survey (EHCVM 2021), by contrast, reports 71.0% owners and 9.7% tenants; in cities, the tenant share was 26.2%. Around 58.8% of owners or co-owners had no official ownership document. These figures are not directly comparable because the surveys and definitions differ. Typical housing forms include simple detached houses, buildings with several apartments, a traditional hut, a villa, or an apartment building. In 2019, 76.3% of the housing stock consisted of simple detached houses, 10.4% of buildings with several apartments, 7.0% of huts, 4.2% of villas, and 0.6% of apartment buildings. For walls, traditional earth building material (banco) predominated at 53.4%; 26.8% consisted of permanent material and 16.9% of semi-permanent material. Sheet metal covered 80.3% of roofs. For a rental home, a written private residential lease (bail d’habitation privée) should specify the parties, identity and address, rent payments, service charges, fixtures and equipment, and special obligations. Under Law No. 103-2015/CNT (Loi n°103-2015/CNT), the security deposit may not exceed two months’ rent. The landlord provides the agreed property and its ancillary spaces; the tenant pays rent and charges, uses the home according to the lease, and reports damage. Termination and ending the lease are governed by the contract and applicable law. The specific notice period should be checked against the current contract or with the competent office. At handover, keys, condition, outstanding amounts, and possible damage should be documented. Disputes belong before the competent tribunal; self-help eviction or other unilateral action is not a safe route. When buying or transferring a house or plot, the identities, names, boundaries, payment receipts, and, where relevant, family or marital status must be checked. A parcel allocation certificate (attestation d’attribution de parcelle, AAP) or provisional allocation certificate provides only provisional evidence for an undeveloped plot and does not replace a land title (titre foncier, TF). A permanent urban residential-use title (Permis urbain d’habiter, PUH) is a permanent urban use title for residential land, linked to the land-use tax (taxe de jouissance) and actual use or development. The TF provides the strongest proof of ownership. In rural areas, a rural land-possession certificate (Attestation de possession foncière rurale, APFR) proves administrative possession rights; family, inheritance, and customary uses may also play a role. Urban and rural procedures must not be mixed. Urban plots may be accessed through the National Society for Land Development (SONATUR), public tenders, or municipal allocations. Other routes include social housing (logement social), housing cooperatives, buying an existing house, and commissioning an approved property developer. In rural areas, family or inheritance transfers and local possession practices may also apply. Registration, application, or subscription does not create an automatic allocation or a guaranteed entitlement to land. The digital land-services platform (SyC@D) enables, among other things, digital applications for AAPs, provisional transfers, and cadastral extracts, but it does not replace examination of the specific file. Responsibilities may lie with the Ministry of Construction of the Homeland (Ministère de la Construction de la Patrie), the municipality or mayor, the General Directorate of Taxes (Direction générale des impôts), the Single Land Window (Guichet Unique du Foncier), the competent office for domains and land-register publications, the cadastral service or SCTF, or rural land services. SONATUR, the state housing corporation (CEGECI), approved property developers, traditional landholders, and local authorities may be involved depending on the procedure. Names, responsibilities, and procedures should be confirmed with the competent office before any specific payment or transfer. Official receipts and complete documents are required; blank payments and unchecked promises by intermediaries increase the risk of fraud. Self-building is widespread. Nevertheless, a building permit is required for a residential house. Typical documents include a TF or PUH, a site and layout plan, an execution plan prepared by an approved architect, and cost documents. The government service portal indicates approximately 30 to 45 days for the procedure; following the decision on a single-window process and a new building file, the target is supposed to be 15 working days. Because of the transition to the 2026 Urban Planning and Construction Code (Code de l’urbanisme et de la construction de 2026), local implementation must be checked before applying. After construction, a certificate of conformity (certificat de conformité) or, under the new procedure, a certificate of occupancy (certificat d’occuper) may be required. Plot allocation does not guarantee connection to utilities. In 2019, 69.2% of the population had access to an improved drinking-water source, compared with 88.6% in cities and 59.0% in rural areas. Only 8.1% had an improved sanitation facility and 17.3% had clean cooking energy; electricity access was 34.0% according to the World Bank in 2024. Before signing a contract or buying, the water source, distance and availability, latrine and emptying, wastewater, waste, electricity or solar supply, cooking smoke, ventilation, roof and wall leaks, locks, and rainwater drainage should therefore be checked at the specific location. In regions affected by displacement, host families, informal accommodation, temporary settlements, emergency shelters, and returnee housing are among the housing forms. At the end of 2024, there were more than two million internally displaced persons. UNHCR reported an improvement in the share of adequate shelter from 16% to 26%, as well as 6,500 shelters constructed for approximately 40,000 people. Protection, land rights, water and sanitation, and documents must be assessed separately. Humanitarian shelter does not establish permanent ownership status. Rent, deposits, and service charges are governed by the residential lease. Plot prices, fees, and processing times depend on the zone, procedure, and competent office; national uniform prices for rent or construction cannot be inferred. Social housing and housing cooperatives are also only functional local offerings whose access depends on the relevant program or project. There is no documented direct nationwide equivalent to a German housing-benefit system or a uniform social-housing allocation.