Housing Satisfaction Attributes Among Households in Uyo Capital City Territory, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Abstract

In Nigeria, attempts at determining household housing satisfaction based on household income are often not guided by rigorous parameters. Past housing policy lumped income groups together, variations in income levels notwithstanding. Housing satisfaction aspirations of many people were frustrated. The unwholesome condition manifested in building alteration practices from their original forms to households’ desirable forms. The study is aimed at determining indices for various income groups in Uyo base on their identified housing satisfaction attributes and by implication guide future housing policies and programmes. In order to achieve the set goal, specific objectives were formulated to: (i) identify and classify satisfaction factors for the various income groups in Uyo, (ii) examine differences among the various income groups in Uyo, (iii) determine attributes for the low, medium, and high-income groups in Uyo, (iv) examine the relationship between housing satisfaction and socio-economic backgrounds of households and (v) determine correlations between housing satisfaction and types of house ownership by households in Uyo. The study adopted survey research design. Primary data were collected aided by structured questionnaire and interview while secondary data were obtained mainly from published and unpublished materials. The study covered an area measuring 15 kilometers radius which cuts across six other local government areas of Akwa Ibom State. The population of the study is 61,192 household heads. A total of 1783 questionnaire, representing 0.3 percent of the sampled population was distributed to household heads. Williams (1978) formula for determining sampled population as was adopted by Kerlinger and Lee (2000) was used to determine the sampled population. Stratified random sampling technique was used to draw the sample for the study. Of the 1,783 questionnaire distributed, 1,560 were returned. The instrument for the study was a structured questionnaire containing twenty-one questions. Respondents responded to on a 5- point Likert Scale. Test of reliability of the questionnaire was conducted using Cronbach alpha and the result of 0.80 was obtained while its validation were carried out by three experts: my supervisor, a statistician and a lecturer from my department. Four statistical tools were employed in the analysis to test five hypotheses. 1. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), used for testing hypothesis one and three, 2. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test hypothesis two; 3. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR-Stepwise Method) was used to test hypothesis four; 4. Spearman Correlation Technique was used to test hypothesis five. The study identified and classified fourteen significant satisfaction factors that influenced housing satisfaction of various income groups which were: architectural/neighbourhood facilities, convenience and recreational, housing amenities/aesthetics, public facilities and security, community facility and comfort, housing investment reward, housing materials and design, health considerations, protection against hazard, functional housing amenities, ease of movement and leisure, housing facilities, structural stability/facilities, and cross ventilation. These factors had cumulative percentage of variance explained with Eigen Value of 54.746 representing 96.78 percent of the total variability of the model. The result show differences among the three income groups in the study area as the one-way ANOVA result was (df 2 (1557), F= 34.829, P = 0.000, p < 0.05 significant level), as medium and high-income groups were in one sub-set and low and high-income groups were in a different subset. PCA housing satisfaction analysis for the three income groups showed 81.11%, 81.98% and 84.15% for low, medium and high. Housing satisfaction related with only two socio-economic variables: education and income levels with a fine fit (R2 adjusted = 90.90%) indicating strong relationship, excluding age that was insignificant. House owners and tenants co-related at 0.01 with 0.87 correlation using Spearman’s Correlations technique. The major findings of the study attested that housing satisfaction factors are the determinants of housing satisfaction among households in Uyo Capital City Territory, and in similar Nigerian cities.