Abstract

The quest for housing transformation by the occupants of public housing in many urban centers in Nigeria has been attributed to some factors which reflect users’ socio-economic and cultural preferences. This study therefore examined User-Initiated Transformation (UIT) in selected low-income public housing estates in Lagos, Nigeria with a view to identifying significant factors influencing such transformation. Through a questionnaire survey, the study employed a systematic sampling method to select 315 housing units out of 8938 units from 3 purposively selected estates namely: Abesan (156 units), Isolo (128 units), and Iponri low-income estates (31 units). Using descriptive statistics and factor analysis, the study identified four major groupings of factors that determined public housing transformation in the study area. Group 1 relates to the upgrading of housing for aesthetic reasons or to meet social status or modern trends (Principal component analysis value (PCA) = 26.271%; relative significant index (RSI) value = 0.839). Group 2 relates to users’ dissatisfaction with the original plan and layout (PCA = 44.162%; RSI values = 0.833, 0.888 and893). Group 3 expresses the level of dissatisfaction with some aspects of the housing (PCA = 60.483%; RSI value = 0.905), Group 4 relates to economic motivations such as: Home-based enterprises (HBE) (PCA value = 75.547%; RSI values = 0.822 and 0.938). The two highest ranking reasons for UIT were that transformation allows households to adjust their housing at their own pace and within their cost limit (RSI = 0.938), and that the transformed house better suits residents’ tastes (RSI = 0.905). The findings showed that the understanding of the nature and influence of these factors is a necessary prerequisite for developing effective public housing delivery policies. The study underscores the need to consider relevant determinants emanating from the end-users for improving and developing public housing in Nigeria.