CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF COOPERATIVE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN MEKANE SELAM TOWN, SOUTH WOLLO, ETHIOPIA.

Abstract The main objective of this study was to assess the challenges and prospects of cooperative housing development in Mekane- Selam town by taking selected sample of 132 households from three cooperative sites. To have clarification about the issues, organized reviews of the related literatures were clearly presented with appropriate citations. Multistage sampling technique was used in the study. To select the sample cooperative member residents, the researcher divided cooperatives into 3 strata according to their different site. To select samples from each site cooperative members list, systematic random sampling method was used. The researcher was employed purposive sampling technique to select official respondents. Cross-sectional research design and mixed research approach were employed and triangulation was vital method of converging concurrently collected data through survey, interviews and FGDs. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the challenges and prospects in cooperative housing development process. Both primary and secondary data sources were employed. Descriptive statistical techniques such as cross tabulation, frequency and percentage distribution with the help of well SPSS version 20 computer software were employed to analyze and interpret the quantitative data. The qualitative data was analyzed and interpreted through narration. The data were presented by tables, figures, and charts with appropriate narrative form. Standing from the finding of this study, the status of housing cooperative development in the town was low. Financial problems and limited source of income, timely increasing building materials cost, high price (shortage) of land, low provision of infrastructure and inaccessibility of public utilities, gaps in members screening process and gaps in policy implementation were the main challenges for cooperative housing development. While government attention towards cooperative housing, positive perception of the residents, high demand of cooperative residents and cooperatives ability to have social interaction, community sense of identity, and wealth generation capacity are the main opportunities for the development of cooperative housing. According to the finding of the study, cooperative members were not satisfied by the housing design and typology, durability of building materials (residents have housing design and typology preference) and on accessibility of public service institutions like market centers, school and health institutions nearest to the cooperative sites. However, cooperative residents were satisfied on the social interaction, security of tenure and wealth generation capacity of cooperative housing in Mekane Selam town.