AN EVALUATION OF THE LEVEL OF COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSING STANDARDS IN BENIN CITY, NIGERIA

Abstract

Housing and building standards are standards that govern how a given housing provision within a locality or environment is planned/regulated. Therefore, there is need for the urban environment to be well regulated. However, several studies have explored how development controls are contravened in Nigeria but limited studies have explored the level of compliance with housing standards in Benin City. This paper explores the level of compliance with the housing standards in addition to identifying the factors responsible for the level of compliance with the housing standards in Benin City. A quantitative method was adopted for this study. A total of 365 questionnaires were sampled and used as subjects for the study and the population utilized for the study were household heads in Benin City. The study made use of frequency count, percentages to analyse the data for the study. The study revealed that housing standards in Benin City is typified by a non-compliance especially with regards to the type of toilet facilities provided, number of persons per room and plot size and site coverage of households. The paper recommends that the government should organise enlightenment programmes for the people in order to facilitate adherence to housing standards in Benin City and Nigeria at large.