An Analysis of the Influence of Housing Quality on the Residents’ Wellbeing in Enugu Urban, Nigeria

Abstract

The essence of human life is for man to live continuously healthy, largely satisfying and euphoric existence; and incidentally all of these begin from a well maintained residential structure. This desire to the potential influence of housing conditions on the health and wellbeing of dwellers in Enugu urban forms the basis of this study. The aim of this study was to examine the nature of housing quality in Enugu and its relationship with residents’ wellbeing with a view to providing solution to the difficulty arising from the lack of information on the linkage between housing quality and dwellers’ wellbeing in Enugu urban, Nigeria. Simple random, stratified and systematic sampling techniques were adopted in the study. Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression was to test whether health Risk Index was significantly related to the housing quality in the study area. The study suggests that building conditions and overcrowding accounted for 75.6% of total variance on incidence of Bronchitis. The study also revealed that indoor temperature/ventilation and building conditions were identified as major predictors of Asthma occurrence. Considered singly, indoor temperature/ventilation contributed 65.9% while building condition contributed 4.0% . For Pneumonia occurrence, the major predictors were: building condition and environmental quality. These variables jointly contributed 84.8% of total variance on Pneumonia occurrence. There should, therefore, be immediate rehabilitation of the poor housing units in the study area since there is a direct relationship between the condition of houses and house related diseases

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