Abstract

Justin D. Awolowo

This study examined the correlates of public housing contentment in Lagos, Nigeria, specifically to identify relevant factors which are external to the dwelling but combine with those of the dwelling to provide satisfactory housing in Nigeria. For this purpose, the study employed a conceptual model which identified three housing components consisting of the environment, dwelling and management subsystems. For the survey, 1,232 (10%) households out of a total of 12,323 households in six randomly selected public housing estates in Lagos were systematically sampled. The information obtained from 1,022 questionnaires retrieved from the respondents - indicating their levels of satisfaction with their housing were analyzed using correlation, multiple regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The significant levels of association were determined at either 0.01 or 0.05 probability level. The results indicated that tenants’ satisfaction level with both the environment and dwelling components of housing was above average, while the satisfaction level with the management component was below average. The results showed significant correlations between tenants’ satisfaction levels and the environmental, dwelling and management components of housing (p < 0.01). The need to consider relevant factors of the environment, dwelling and management in housing design and development is highlighted.