published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

In 1994 the new government introduced a subsidy scheme where the beneficiaries are provided with houses through housing projects. The houses have been vastly criticised for being small and poorly built. The sites provided are perceived to be small. The recreational facilities are perceived to be non existent and educational facilities scarce. The places where the projects are, is perceived to be far away from job opportunities. A sample of 200 beneficiaries was drawn from 1024 beneficiaries residing in the housing project in the area of France, Edendale in Pietermaritzburg, Phases 1 and 11. In this study, the respondents were composed of 32.9% males and 67.1% females. The respondent’s age group who participated in this project was 3.9% between 0-21 years, 28.9% between 22-35 years, 34.2% between 36-45 years, 16.4% between 46-55 years, and 11.8% between 55- 65 years and 4.6% did not reveal their age status. 80.9%, indicated they were owners of the houses, 6.6% indicated that they were not and those that did not reply are 12.5%. The study is descriptive in nature and explored the extent to which the beneficiaries were happy with their houses. The study explored the perceptions on the size of the sites, the small starter houses, the sanitation provided and the location of the houses. The findings suggest that the provision of sustainable housing in South Africa is still a challenge. The houses are still located far from the places of work and they are so small and there is overcrowding. The sizes of the sites are small and the sanitation provided unacceptable. The recreational facilities are nonexistent. Beneficiaries expressed dissatisfaction with the educational facilities. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2012.

Physical and social characteristics of neighborhoods are important to resident satisfaction for clinical and nonclinical populations. This study draws upon data collected from a sample of 172 individuals with psychiatric disabilities living in 16 supportive housing sites in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Research questions explore the extent to which subjective and objective measures of neighborhood physical and social environments contribute to neighborhood satisfaction for this population. Mixed methods were employed to construct a detailed understanding of the factors that influence satisfaction with one's neighborhood of residence. Predictor variables were neighborhood social climate, neighborhood physical quality, perceptions of safety, crime reports, neighborhood diversity, and WalkScore data. This study found that aspects of the social environment collectively accounted for more variance in neighborhood satisfaction than physical environmental variables; further, subjective assessments of the environment were more predictive of neighborhood satisfaction than objective indicators. Qualitative data were collected on aspects of the neighborhood that residents liked and disliked. These data were analyzed using thematic content analysis to contextualize quantitative findings. Findings provide important information regarding neighborhood features that contribute to or detract from neighborhood satisfaction among individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Supportive housing programs aiming to improve residents' well-being and increase residential tenure may consider looking to features of the neighborhood that most impact resident experiences.

The housing problem in South Africa is complicated by the cultural diversity and the rapidly changing nature of the population. This indicates a need for research to help to determine "what appropriate housing is" for various sectors of the South African population. Social researchers and design professionals therefore have to combine their efforts to provide house designs that will be appropriate to the housing needs and values of a variety of future occupants. This study focuses on the impact of rapid change in the sociophysical environment (modernization) on people's experience of the quality of their relationship with their home environments. An approach is proposed through which groups of individuals, who share similar needs and requirements regarding their housing, can be identified for inclusion in a process of participatory design. A theoretical framework is developed to account for the variety of perspectives of participants (users, researchers and design professionals) in the design process. Through application of the theoretical framework, a novel approach to the determination of "what to design for whom" is developed. The "modernity fit" concept is introduced to describe the quality of the relationship between people and their housing in terms of a rating of the modernity of both human and housing characteristics. It is proposed that the quality of the relationship or "fit" between the modernity of human characteristics and the modernity of the physical characteristics of the house influences people's experience of their houses. Results of this study indicate that the "modernity fit" concept opens up new avenues for research to assist in the design of housing in developing countries. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

The study examines the influences of the Qianmen urban renewal project on its original residents, which is one of a few demonstration projects under the new policy orientation of urban renewal practices in Beijing, China, entering the new century. It employs "residential satisfaction" as an evaluative indicator to understand the residents' experiences before and after urban renewal. Seventy-two residents were interviewed. Among them, 25 remained in Qianmen; 20 relocated to Hongshan, a neighborhood in the central city area; 21 moved to Longyue, a neighborhood in one of the suburban areas; and 6 residents relocated to other locations. The study found that the participants' level of residential satisfaction was skewed toward dissatisfaction before the urban renewal, whereas participants showed a much higher satisfaction level after the urban renewal, which means that overall the Qianmen urban renewal project had positive impacts on the residents' residential environment. However, among the three neighborhoods, there are no statistically significant differences. The policy arrangements of the Qianmen urban renewal project contribute to the results. Under the new policy orientation, the policy arrangements of the Qianmen urban renewal project featured a government-led approach with a large amount of public investment, which formed a good basis to provide better compensation to the residents, in particular to provide extra aid to low income residents. Therefore, the residents got their housing conditions improved to a large extent contributing to their higher level of residential satisfaction after the project was implemented. Because of the extra aid, the low income residents were even more satisfied than the middle-high income residents. On the other hand, the policy arrangements took into account the opinions of the original residents, in other words, most residents made their own decision about where to live after the urban renewal. In this circumstance, they actually saw the urban renewal as an opportunity to improve their residential environment, in spite of the fact that the urban renewal project was initiated by the municipal government. Therefore residents stayed or relocated voluntarily, which significantly predicts the resulting higher level of residential satisfaction. The findings in the Qianmen case remind us that we do need a more open, balanced perspective for analysis of urban renewal processes and outcomes, rather than a predominantly negative displacement view embedded in a gentrification discourse; and that policy arrangements toward more redistribution and social equity are more likely to achieve positive outcomes for disadvantaged people. However, the improvements in unit size and housing quality are the main achievements of the urban renewal. Many residents still face the shortage of community facilities in the short run, and in the long run they might continue to suffer from poorer accessibility to public facilities and other resources. Furthermore, the urban renewal inevitably caused social disturbances for many residents, in particular for disadvantaged people (low income residents, and the elderly, etc), although the negative impacts of relocation on social networks were mitigated by the benefits of escaping the social conflicts and annoyance in the original neighborhood, and were compensated by the improved housing conditions. Generally, the key argument of this study is that policy makers need to pay more attention to the disadvantaged class; in other words, the government needs to assume its role more actively in redistribution and social equity.

The housing problem in South Africa is complicated by the cultural diversity and the rapidly changing nature of the population. This indicates a need for research to help to determine "what appropriate housing is" for various sectors of the South African population. Social researchers and design professionals therefore have to combine their efforts to provide house designs that will be appropriate to the housing needs and values of a variety of future occupants. This study focuses on the impact of rapid change in the sociophysical environment (modernization) on people's experience of the quality of their relationship with their home environments. An approach is proposed through which groups of individuals, who share similar needs and requirements regarding their housing, can be identified for inclusion in a process of participatory design. A theoretical framework is developed to account for the variety of perspectives of participants (users, researchers and design professionals) in the design process. Through application of the theoretical framework, a novel approach to the determination of "what to design for whom" is developed. The "modernity fit" concept is introduced to describe the quality of the relationship between people and their housing in terms of a rating of the modernity of both human and housing characteristics. It is proposed that the quality of the relationship or "fit" between the modernity of human characteristics and the modernity of the physical characteristics of the house influences people's experience of their houses. Results of this study indicate that the "modernity fit" concept opens up new avenues for research to assist in the design of housing in developing countries. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)