Socioeconomic Attributes of Households and Their Implications for Housing Development in Peri-urban Areas of Akure, Nigeria

Abstract The rapidly growing population of Akure and the accompanying economic activities have led to the city's expansion to the adjoining peri-urban areas. Many households who could not afford decent accommodation in the town have been moving to the peri-urban regions for rental or personal housing. Therefore, this study explored the connection between the socioeconomic characteristics of households and housing development in Oba-Ile, Oda, and Ibule-Soro peri-urban areas of Akure. In this study, households represent the unit of analysis, and one household head per building was selected for questionnaire administration. Using the average household size of five people per family (5ppf) and five households per building (5hpb) in Ondo State, the number of households in the three locations was forty-seven thousand one hundred and ten (47110), out of which eight hundred (800) representing 1.7% of the households were randomly selected for questionnaire administration. The data obtained from the field survey was subjected to statistical analysis and the results among others revealed that most of the housing units were headed by males, who were between 45 and 54 years old, and within Nigeria's economically active population; 67.2%, 65.1%, and 46.4% of the respondents in Ibule-Soro, Oda, and Oba-Ile, respectively, lived below the poverty line; and most of the housing development were traced to the last ten years. Based on the findings, credible proposals were made to improve socioeconomic characteristics, which will drive adequate housing development.