CHAPTER FOUR
THE IMPLICATION OF
HOUSING PROBLEMS ON LOCATION CHOICE OF HOUSING IN EKPOMA AND HOUSING TYPES
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The
rate of variation in houses in terms of magnificence cannot be overemphasized. This
variation is more distinct from the crudest building, such as huts and hamlets,
to the executive structure of duplexes and skyscrapers. This variation lies in
the fact that the materials used for their building vary periodically, in the ancient
traditional buildings, building materials used includes, mud blocks, mat,
plant, thatched roof etc.
While
in this modern times, building materials used includes cement blocks, concrete,
asbestos, glass, aluminum sheets, etc. However, it should be noted that spatial
variation in housing types, vary with the type of settlement. For instance, it
is common to see mud or thatched roof houses in the rural area to a metropolis.
Ekpoma
is a metropolitan area and has witnessed considerable expansion in the past
years, especially in its peripheries.
4.2 HOUSING TYPES IN STUDY AREA.
The
major types of housing that can be found in metropolitan Ekpoma are:
1. The traditional housing type
2. The modern housing type
3. The mixed housing type
4.2.1 THE TRADITIONAL HOUSING TYPE
These types of house constitute of the
first set of houses in Ekpoma. The building materials used for such houses
include mud blocks, thatched roof impaired walls, windows very small which does
not encourage cross ventilation and is made of mood with respect to the
internal infrastructures, there’s absence of pipe-borne water (though this is a
general problem in Ekpoma), bathroom and internal toilet, absence of good
kitchen but sometimes such houses have electricity.
The traditional houses is more of a
compound or extended family type of house which consist of many rooms occupied
by members of the family these types of housing in the study area are mostly
found in Ujemen. Eguare, Emaudo, Idumebo, Ukpenu and Illeh. And the inhabitants
are pre-occupational farmers are they have a community market, which takes
place once every four days.
4.2.2 MODERN HOUSING TYPE
Modern housing are build in recent
times. They are the types of house found in both the developing and developed
region. The building materials employed includes cement blocks and plastered
walls, corrugated iron sheets, asbestos, while the floor is made of concrete, tiles
and they are well painted.
Amenities enjoyed in such houses include
electricity, toilet cisterns, internal bathroom, internal kitchens e.t.c. there
is also good ventilation because of the size of the windows. Security “would be
introduced” is another basis feature of the modern house, as most of the
entrance doors are usually iron doors as well as burglary proofs.
The modern housing types are those
occupied by the high class of people whose income and taste in high. In the
study area, Ekpoma, such houses are found in Ukhun road where most of the
university staffs reside, areas where some of the students stay, such as
Ujoelen road, Ihumudumu, parts of Ujemen and Idumebo, and mainly along the
Benin Auchi Express-way.
MIXED HOUSING TYPES
This type of housing is a mixture of the
traditional and modern house. The mixed houses are of two categories, they are:
1. The mixed type of
housing constitute about 60% of the total housing type in Ekpoma they are found
in Ihumudumu, Ujemen, Idubemo, Ujoelen, Eguare, Emaudo and all the settlement
within the study area. It is also worth-nothing at this junction that the mixed
housing types. (Traditional, Modern and Mixed housing also occur either as
strong building or bungalow).
2. Housing that have
been built decades ago, which are mainly mud, and have been modernized to meet
with present day demand for modern housing. In most cases, some of these house which
used to be family houses are converted into private hostels, by plastering the
mud walls with cement and using corrugated iron roofs, in some cases, changing
the windows to louver, painting the walls etc.
3. The third categories
of mixed housing are those houses that have been recently built less than ten
years ago. Modern building materials such as cement, corrugated roofs, louver, windows
in some cases etc are employed right from its foundation. But modern housing
facilities such as water cistern, internal kitchen, bathroom toilet, etc are
not present in such houses.
THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE VARIOUS HOUSING TYPES
AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION IN EKPOMA.
Housing types
|
Low density
|
Medium density
|
High density
|
Total
|
Percentage
|
Traditional
|
2
|
10
|
10
|
30
|
10.5
|
Modern
|
20
|
15
|
20
|
60
|
31.6
|
Mixed
|
15
|
30
|
55
|
100
|
57.9
|
Total
|
37
|
55
|
85
|
190
|
100
|
Source:
Fieldwork 2010
From the above, the distribution of the
three types of housing in Ekpoma reveals that the mixed type of housing
predominates in the area with 57.9%.
In order to substantiate this data
collected for this study from the three residential zones, which the author
divided the study area into:
Ho: There
are no variation in housing type throughout the study are.
Hi: There
are variations in housing types throughout the study area.
Using the chi-square (X2)
test at 5% level of significance the calculated value was 15.02, while the
table value was 9.4 (please refer to appendix 1) since the calculated value of
15.02 is greater than the table value of 9.49, we reject the null hypothesis
(Ho) as it does not fall within the range of acceptance and accept the
Alternative Hypothesis (Hi) we therefore conclude “there are variations in
housing types throughout the study area” these variation can be attributed to
the fact that about 40% of the houses in Ekpoma were built some decades ago,
and as a result, most of the, were the traditional mud house but since the
inception of the state owned university (Ambrose Alli university) in the town,
Ekpoma has witnessed increasing demand for housing both by the staffs and
students of the university and this has necessitated the need for providing more
houses as well as renovating to modernize the existing traditional mud-houses
so as to meet with the demands of these migrants who are mainly staffs and
students of the university as well as people seeking for white collar job
through the urbanization rate of the area.
Also, modern and mixed new houses have
spring up rapidly in the area since the last decade, this may also be
attributed to the rapid urbanization rate in the area and has been a
contributing factor to the variable in housing type in the area.
4.3 HOUSING QUALITY
However,
the supply of these houses in Ekpoma, has compromised its quality, as emphasis
has only been on the provision of a physical structure or building without any
cognizance of other auxiliaries of the house such as the nature of the
materials used for constructing the walls, floors, roofs, door etc. high
quality materials are able to withstand environmental constraints and are more
durable than lower quality materials.
The
structural change that the houses have undergone has drastically reduced the
number of low quality houses in the area. These changes are however more
distinct in some settlement than others, own within the same zone e.g., in zone
c Ujoelen has more qualify houses than Ujemen and Idumebo. The main problem of
differentiating housing quality in the three residential areas lies in the
inability of depict the variation in the housing quality among the three zones,
but this is not so within the zones.
For
a more comprehensive work, the author scored the housing quality in the sampled
settlements by selecting ten (10) houses each from the three residential zones,
as illustrated in the 4:2 below:
Number of Settlements
|
Zone A
|
Zone B
|
Zone C
|
1
|
16
|
15
|
10
|
2
|
10
|
20
|
15
|
3
|
15
|
35
|
15
|
4
|
95
|
14
|
30
|
5
|
25
|
12
|
40
|
6
|
80
|
50
|
50
|
7
|
45
|
80
|
14
|
8
|
30
|
45
|
12
|
9
|
35
|
25
|
45
|
10
|
20
|
70
|
70
|
Source:
fieldwork 2010
For the purpose of this study, the
extent of variations in the quality of these houses was further tested using the
statistical method of analysis of variation (ANOVA)
Ho: There
are no significant variations in housing quality throughout the study area
Hi: There
are significant variations in housing quality throughout the study area.
The results from the statistical
techniques used in analyzing the data in table 4.2 above, indicate that the calculated
value was 0.2 and, while the table at the two levels of significance 1% and 5%
where 5.4 and 3.35 respectively.
(Place
refer to appendix II). Since the calculated value of 0.28 is less than the
table values of 5.94 and 3.35, we therefore accept the null hypothesis (Ho) as
it is in the range of acceptance. This goes to show that “there are no
significant variation in housing quality throughout the study area”.
And also, this does not mean that there
are no variation at all in housing quality of the area especially when the
three zones are compared. But these variation are just too indistinct and
insignificant enough for generation. For instance, even some of the “so called
self contained apartment”. And up having the pit toilet or latrine system which
everybody in the compound is expected to use, e.g. zone Hostel in Ujoelen road.
4.4 HOUSING QUALITY AND RENT
The
services provided in a house, and the neighborhood where it is located
determines to a large extent the quality and condition of the house, and these
determines the rents changed. Also the rent paid is a function of location,
cost type, size, qualities in the house e.t.c. However, a close analysis of the
three residential zones of the study area shows that rental are very close
irrespective of the quality. For instance are such as Ujemen, and Idumebo,
where there are low quality houses pay as much high rents as those in Ujoelen,
where areas are most easily accessible to the university, hence, there is
higher demand for houses in such areas.
Table 4.3
shows the housing quality scores and rents paid in ten settlements of the three
residential zones.
Number of settlement
|
Name of settlement
|
Total quality scores
|
Average rents
|
1
|
Uhiele
|
24.0
|
12
|
2
|
Ikhiro
|
47.5
|
15
|
3
|
Ebhuoakhua
|
78.0
|
18
|
4
|
Idumebo
|
32.5
|
22
|
5
|
Iruekpen
|
90.5
|
25
|
6
|
Ukpenu
|
85.5
|
25
|
7
|
Ujoelen
|
91.5
|
27
|
8
|
Ujemen
|
48.5
|
37
|
9
|
Emaudo
|
100.5
|
28
|
10
|
Eguare
|
111.5
|
31
|
Source:
Fieldwork 2010
The superman’s rank correlation
coefficient was used to test this data.
Ho:
There is no significant relationship between housing quality between housing
quality and rent.
Using the Superman’s rank correlation
coefficient (rs), the calculated rs value was 0.69, which shows a high degree
of correlation between housing quality and rent. The calculated t-value was
2.70, while the tabulated valued showed 2.31 at 5% significant level (refer to
appendix III). Since the calculated value is greater than the tabulated value,
the test could be said to be significant, hence the null hypothesis (Ho), which
state” there is no significant relationship between housing quality and rent”
is rejected. While the alternative hypothesis (iii), which states” there is a
significant relationship between housing quality and rent is accepted.
The test has further revealed that the
rent paid in a house “all things been equal” is a function of the materials
used constructing such a house.
For instance, the rent paid for a newly
built modern house is different from that paid or renovated house even if the
two houses where in the same neighbourhood. This is due to the type and nature
of modern building materials used in the construction of such a house.
4.5 DISTANCE AND RENTS
Accessibility
is however another major’s factor, which determines the rents, paid on housing
in Ekpoma. Accessibility in this context refers to the ease within which people
enjoy the facilities within their neighbourhood. Two major activities in Ekpoma
led to the influx of people in the area. They are:
1. The state owned Ambrose Alli
University
2. The commercial Hub of
the town, which revalues around the market square (Emaudo, Eguare)
The implication of these two activities
is that, even with the poor nature of types of house in the area, they still
have the highest demand for housing, for instance, the rent paid for a
renovated mixed house type in Ukpenu, Ujoelen, and Benin Auchi express way
around Mousco, etc this is attributable to the fact that despite these later
areas have more quality houses than the former, accessibility is a major factor
that has been considered in this respect. For example, off camp students would
prefer to reside in Ujemen and Idumebo in this respect to Ujoelen and Ukpenu
area as a result of the nearness of these areas to the university also, an
intending trader would prefer to stay in places around Eguare and Emaudo for
easy accessibility to his shop in the market square (CBD), as to Ujemen and
Idumebo.
A partial confirmation of these comes
from a study of some houses around the two activity areas.
Table 4.4:
Distance of Residence to Activity Areas in the three Residential zones.
Distance (km)
|
High Density
|
Mid density
|
Low density
|
Total
|
Percentage
|
0-4
|
0
|
12
|
16
|
35
|
58.3%
|
5-9
|
1
|
2
|
12
|
11
|
29.2%
|
10-14
|
35
|
2
|
18
|
70
|
9.17%
|
Above 15
|
7
|
19
|
16
|
4
|
3.33%
|
Total
|
43
|
35
|
42
|
120
|
100%
|
Source:
Field world 2010.
To determine the extent of relationship
between distance of resident and place of work, the sample obtained from the
three residential zones (as shown in table 4.4) were analyzed using the
chi-square test (X2) test.
Ho:
There is a negative correlation between distance from place of work and house
rent paid. Using the two-way Chi-square in testing the hypothesis the
calculated value was 20.29, which shown that there is a positive relationship
between distance and rent as determinate of residential location since the
table value was 16.81 at 1% significant level.
Hence, the null hypothesis (Ho) is
rejected, while the alternative hypothesis (Hi) is accepted. This implies that
people prefer residing in areas close to their various places of work.
Also, it has been noticed that it is the
high-income group that reside far from these activity areas, and they mainly
occupy the low density area. This can be further illustrated with a chart as
shown in figure 4.1 below.
A graph showing the distance of
residents from activity areas in the three residential zones.
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