The Role of Income in the Choice of Housing Typology in Suburban Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

Homeownership is frequently viewed as a means of gaining wealth and stability; nevertheless, low-income people confront distinct problems and considerations when it comes to finding cheap and sustainable housing. This study investigates low-income people’s views of income as well as the factors influencing home typology choices in suburban Ota, Ogun State. The case study method was employed in the study to provide in-depth explanations from a personenvironment approach. In the quantitative technique, a context-sensitive place audit was utilized on a suburban town in Ota, Ogun state, Nigeria. Through questionnaires administered to homeowners in Iyana-Iyesi, the results revealed a high response rate from the group earning daily wages. The findings also indicate a strong association between housing typology (HT) and perceived income levels. Two Community Development Associations (CDAs) in Ota – Aiyelabola and Idera– with a profusion of low-income homeowners were purposively selected. Questionnaires were administered to all the homeowners in the landlord and tenants’ association register in the two CDAs to solicit data on socioeconomic profile, monthly income, and the choice of house typology for quantitative analysis. Quantitative data were subjected to frequency, cross-tabulation, and chi-square for descriptive and inferential analysis. Findings show that the majority of respondents are male (M), the prevalent age range (AR) being 41-55 years and working in the private sector at (77.5%), (60.8%) and (50%) respectively. The monthly income (MI) influenced the choices in the following order; House Type (HT), the decision to own a house (DH), Significance of Home-ownership (SH), Completed Building (CB), Incomplete Building (ICB) and Uncompleted Building (UCB) at (52.9%), (67.6%), (40.2%), (41.2%), (49%) and (10.8%) respectively. The study showed that relationships between the monthly income (MI) and the choice of house type (CHT), housing typology (HT), and the decision to become a homeowner (WDH) were significant at (p=0.024<0.05), (p=0.001<0.05) and (p=0.072<0.05) respectively. Conclusively, available income played a significant role in housing typology choices among the low- income people in the study area. However, despite the important role of income in the choice of housing typology, it has little or no effect on the state of completeness of the house at the point of occupancy The study hopes to influence housing policy formulation towards low-income homeownership.