Abstract

This article is an investigative attempt to understand alternative factors that influence student housing satisfaction and housing adjustment. While most research focuses on relationships between the levels of satisfaction and building performance-based post-occupancy evaluation, this article aims to understand the reasons for the housing deficit and housing adjustment practices that lower the rate of student residential mobility in kost accommodation. Kost refers to popular types of rented student accommodation in Indonesia, where students live with the homeowner. Open-ended, semi-structured questionnaire interviews were conducted with students, landlords, and community stakeholders, together with in-depth observations, to reveal housing satisfaction and housing adjustments. All the data are categorized in cross-tabulation for descriptive analysis, by using The Compare Means procedure. The findings suggest that the student housing deficit is determined by expectations of expenditure value not matching the actual performance of physical features. The research has also identified positive social interactions in the neighborhood as a prominent factor deterring students from engaging in residential mobility. These social norms provide mutual assistance for students experiencing financial and other types of hardship. This article further adds to existing literature that resident orbing is an alternative housing adjustment type.