Socioeconomic Predictors of Users’ Satisfaction with Neighbourhood Facilities in Public Residential Estates in Akure, Nigeria

Abstract

The state of neighbourhood facilities in public housing estates play important roles in determining how the residents perceive such  facilities. However, when socioeconomic characteristics of users of housing environments are not considered in the planning, it could  lead to dissatisfaction with such facilities. Thus, this study aims at evaluating the effects of socioeconomic characteristics on satisfaction  with neighbourhood facilities. It adopts a cross-sectional survey of three-hundred and one (301) housing units using structured  questionnaire and direct observations in three public housing estates in Akure namely: Ijapo, Alagbaka and Oba-Ile Housing Estates. Data obtained were analyzed using single-factor descriptive analysis, Mean Satisfaction Scoring and Categorical Regression Analysis to  examine the effects of socioeconomic factors on users’ satisfaction with neighborhood facilities. The findings showed that religious  centres had the highest rating in all aspects of the study in the study estates, while fire service station was rated the least. Three of the  independent variables significantly explained satisfaction while the model generally predicted satisfaction with neighbourhood facilities  in this context. The model explained 34.9% of the variance in the level of satisfaction with Multiple R² of 0.349. The study recommended  that developers, policy makers, architects and government agencies that manage the housing estates should ensure that, in planning  public residential estates, the residents’ socioeconomic characteristics should be considered because it can enhance satisfaction  particularly as it pertains to neighbourhood facilities.