ABSTRACT
The research project examines tenancy housing problem in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State. The study employed survey approach using questionnaire instrument to elicit information about the possible housing problems that people are faced with in the study area. Hence, data obtained were subjected to both descriptive and non parametric statistical technique.
The study reveals that housing problem is multifaceted in nature, undergoing a complex dimension in the face of urbanization. The research finding shows that housing problem does exist, due to the fact that 42.2% of the sampled respondents pay more than 20% of their salary on house rent. While 26.7% of the respondents pay less than 20% of their income on house rent coupled with the stressful nature of having to find a house for rent. The study examines the various types of building characteristics ranging from rooming houses, bungalow, duple and flat. And of which flats were observed to be dominant. Basically, the occupants of these flats were observed to be mostly business men and civil servants. On tenants’ educational status, the study reveals that 110 of the respondents who had tertiary education live in flat, which depicts the influence of educational status on choice of housing. Thus, on housing facility availability the research also shows that 76.4% of the total 225 sampled houses are of water closet. Utility pressure this facility was observed to be high on the average, of which 97.8% assessed the toilet condition to very bad. The study also reveals a moderate agreement among the respondents on the negative impact of housing problems such as lack of tenancy housing, tenancy rent, privacy of tenancy rent, lack of toilet and bathroom, lack of dust-bin, electricity, lack of space, vehicular access, quality of the house, and occurrence of crime using Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, a non parametric statistical technique. Thus, the coefficient of agreement was computed to be 0.128 which depicts moderate agreement among the respondents.
In conclusion, the findings show that housing conditions are not adequately suitable which therefore call for an improved standard in housing development with the view to enhance the livability of tenants.
