CORRELATION OF SOCIOECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS AND MAINTENANCE LEVEL OF HOUSES IN MASS HOUSING SCHEME IN ILORIN, NIGERIA

It is a common belief that certain behaviors are influenced by a person's social level. This claim is taken to apply to housing maintenance in any society, whether it is owned or rented. The aim of this study is to identify the socioeconomic indicators that are most predictive of the maintenance level of houses in mass housing schemes in the metropolis of Ilorin, Nigeria. Both primary and secondary data were used in this investigation. Qualitative and quantitative data through structured questionnaires administered on 1125 household heads constituting 27% of the sample frame were collected from sixteen (16) mass housing schemes comprises of Public, Private and Public-Private-Partnership for the analysis. Using the multistage sampling technique, descriptive statistics and Pearson-product moment correlations were performed to analyze the data. The finding indicates that the monthly income, employment status, educational background and age of the residents have a greater impact on housing maintenance. Also, with a correlation coefficient of 0.725, it is observed that there is a high (strong) positive correlation between socio-economic characteristics of residents and maintenance level of houses, thus serving as the main predictor. The results revealed that socioeconomic characteristics can be used as an indicator for mass housing schemes maintenance policy to improve the conditions of the houses and the environment and sustainable building materials should always be specified in construction of mass housing by built environments professionals