| dc.description.abstract | The primary goal of this study was to link the
demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the
low-income migrants to their housing need in Nairobi.
In order to do this, the study had to identify these
charateristics. Furthermore, the study had to identify
those characteristics most responsible for the
deteriorating housing conditions of the low-income
people. In this exercise, household sample survey
was conducted in the study area and information was
collected from the heads of households about thernselves
and members of their households by means of
a questionnaire.
In this study it was postulated that low-income
migrants with similar demographic and socio-econooic
characteristics have common housing need. The housing
need was viewed as an ambivalent phenomenon divided into
an variable quantified by the "occupancy"
(number of persons per room) and a demand variable
quantified by "proportion of income spent on rent".
Specific hypotheses relating each of the explanatory
variables with each of the criterion variables were
developed. A basic model was used to test these
relationships. Simple correlation and multiple correlation
and regression analysis were employed. To test
these hypotheses correlation and regression
coefficients were examined.
The results of the analyses generally support the
hypotheses set in this study. In particular, mean
duration of continuous stay in Nairobi and percent
of houses with one room were both positjvelv and
significantly related to the occupancy and
negatively and significantly related to the proportion
of income spent on rent in the hypothesized
directions. Low incomemigra:1ts who have lived in
Nairobi for a long time tend to have more overcrowded
houses and spend smaller proportions of their income on
rent than do new migrants.
Education was found to have an inverse effect on
occupancy meaning that more educated heads of
households tend to have fewer persons per room in their
houses. This showed that education helps to expose to
the people the dangers of overcrowding and congestion
and encourages them to reduce it as much as possible.
The income variable had a positive effect on the occupancy-
The natural increase variable (balance of births
and deaths) was found to be positively and significantly
related to the occupancy and also to the
proportion of income spent on rent. The age variable
seemed important only when education and technical
training were considered, both of which played a determining
part in the income ladder of the low-income
people. Older heads of households generally paid
higher proportions of their incomes in rent than
younger-neads of households.
The study has also revealed that the honsing need
(problem) is not simply the lack of houses which can
be solved by simply building more. Both demographic and
socip-economic characteristics of the people concerned
must be evaluated and related to the problem. The
study has further showed that people live in slum and
substandard conditions because they can not affora the
cost of housing elsewhere. Increased rural-urban
migration, lack of education and skill training, high
na tural increase and unplanned r.nd frequent births,
increasing rents for a few affordable houses, and some
unconsidered factors are some of the causes of the
worsening housing and environmental conditions of the
majority of the population of Nairobi.
The main recommendation that arises from this
study is that of decentralisation of economic activity
from urban to rural areas. It is specifically recommended
that building industries in the rural areas
will create jobs there and help to reduce the
rural-to-urban influx. On the home front, the
abandonment of slum clearance must be accompanied by
the rehabilitation of these slums and squatter
settlements and the communities which occupy them.
This action would form a more appropriate framework
for urban programmes aimed at increasing and
improving the existing housing stock. | en |
