The hardship faced by Nigerian Army (NA) officers and soldiers in securing personal houses after retirement or discharge from service necessitated the establishment of the Post-Service Housing Directorate (Army)-PHDA, which was formally approved by the Army council in March 1996. The PHDA was established primarily as a department in Army Headquarters, funded the Nigerian Army (NA) as the implementing organ of the Nigerian Army Housing Scheme (NAHS), registered with the corporate affairs Commission in 1996 as a company limited by guarantee. The present PHDL emerged from PHD(A) after being re-organized and registered as a limited liability company in 2006 and became self-funding, undertaking to raise funds for the provision of affordable post-service housing to retired or discharged personnel of the Nigerian Army.

The primary role of PHDL is to provide affordable houses/land for NA personnel to own homes into which they could retire. To this end, PHDL sources for land all over the country which are prepared and developed into housing estates in which prototype houses are built and sold to subscribers. Alternatively, land can be sold to subscribers to build houses of their choice. 

To ensure affordability, land is often procured from state governments at concessionary rates, while the Arm) also assists PHDL in allocating unused NA land for establishment of PHDL estates. In recent years, PHDL has also sought to purchase land from individual land owners, families or communities to fast-track our estate development activities.

The Company has gone through various phases of reformation, as new ideas and innovations have continued to be implemented over the years. This novel Company has continued to deliver affordable and durable houses or vacant plots to serve the post-service accommodation needs of officers and men of the Nigerian Army