The effects of culture on public housing non-occupancy in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Housing has been ranked high among other human needs but its delivery is usually insufficient in terms of number of stocks. If a significant number of the available ones are not occupied, it might cause unwanted waste of government resources. This study aimed at identifying the reasons for such non-occupancy in public housing, and at providing design guidelines by identifying users’ needs in the context of Ondo State, Nigeria, through user-satisfaction survey on cultural aspects. The hypothesis was that culture affects significantly on public housing nonoccupancy. From literature review, eight cultural variables were selected for investigation. They are: kinship relations, relaxation, food preparation, identity, security, environment and housing management, privacy, and service provisions. Three public housing estates were investigated in three local governments in Ondo State. One hundred respondents were randomly selected for the sample and their satisfaction was investigated on each of these variables, as well as on overall housing satisfaction. Five-point Likert scale questionnaires were administered in the study area, the data from which were quantitatively analyzed with SPSS statistical package (version 14). Open-ended interviews conducted on an estate manager in Ondo-State Housing Corporation, and on two Architects owning private architectural firms, who were used as peer reviewers. Their comments were used to qualitatively triangulate the findings from quantitative analysis. From the results it is found that four variables namely kinship relations, food preparation, environment and housing maintenance, and service provisions showed significant correlation (p<0.05) with overall housing satisfaction, while the others did not. A qualitative comparative analysis between current layouts and user’s expectation on these four variables was done afterwards to suggest design guidelines. This study insists that a careful consideration on selected context specific cultural variables in housing design should be expected during the housing delivery process in order to overcome the problem of non-occupancy