The research work delves into the origin of public housing in Lagos, Nigeria and its development over the years. It identifies the challenges of public housing but focuses on appraising the quality assurance practices in the construction industry. The objectives are to examine the factors that hinder effective quality assurance practices; and to ascertain who should be largely responsible for ensuring/enforcing effective quality assurance practices in public housing projects. In achieving the objectives, a field survey involving a sample size of 73 respondents, mainly the professionals in the built environment working directly with Lagos State and those managing the housing projects awarded to different contractors using structured questionnaires. The study reveals that the aims and objectives of quality assurance are easily compromised and frequently lost since it relies heavily upon the individual contributions to implementation from each designer, contractor, supplier and sub-contractor. The study concludes that all have major roles to play in ensuring quality work in public housing projects; enforcement of quality standards by government agencies, setting up of quality assurance department in construction firms and enforcing statutory requirements as well as providing trainings and seminars on quality standard. Severe penalty for non compliance to quality standards be put in place by government and professional bodies. Clients must demand proof of contractors’ credentials for quality assurance capability before compiling their tender lists, and professionals on the project must try to work together in attaining desired quality.
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