Comfort Factors in Low-Cost Houses
Comfort Factors in Low-Cost Houses:
Case Study At Batu Pahat, Johor Malaysia
Comfort is a physical condition, a feeling of contentment or a sense of well-being. Lack in comfort remains a major problem for most, especially in low-cost houses.
Insufficient space, indoor environmental qualities, environmental facilities, affordability of the houses and accessibility to social facilities are part of the major contributing factors to lack of comfort which can have adverse effects on the quality of life.
The objectives of this research include evaluating the current housing policies in Malaysia concerning the physical and social aspects of sustainability, identifying how the physical and social aspect of the building affects the residents’ comfort and identifying the relationship between the physical and social aspects of the building as it relates to sustainability.
The methodology adopted for this research includes library study, interview and questionnaire design. A random sampling method was used in selecting the respondents, which consisted of a government official, 6 practising architects and 215 low-cost housing inhabitants.
Findings from this research show that although the government policies are being implemented, low-cost houses are still lacking both in quality and quantity.
Low-cost housing inhabitants were fairly satisfied with the houses they lived in as it relates to the social and physical aspects of their building. It also shows that to achieve sustainability in low-cost housing, prospective house owners should be involved in the planning stage of the buildings.
It is important to improve stakeholders’ collaboration as it leads to better housing performance. This study may improve key participants’ attention to low-cost housing inhabitants’ needs and ensure they are integrated into the housing policies.
An increase in urbanization has been perceived extensively as a significant symbol of economic prosperity which has been sought by many countries. Due to this increase however, there has been extreme anxiety in the housing of this rather huge population.
As a result of the rapid growth experienced in most countries and due to the importance, quality and availability of housing plays in the lives of its inhabitants’ various governments have searched for ways of providing shelter, especially for the low-income earners of their country.
This is in line with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 which states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services” (Choguill, 2007).
This housing provision is known in different countries as different schemes. To some, it is low-cost houses and some others it is affordable housing. According to Disney (2007), well well-practised measurement of affordable housing is that housing cost should be less than 30% of household income of the occupants in the bottom 40% of household incomes.
Affordable Housing Management Methods (2007) suggests that affordable housing should be defined as a kind of security housing supported by the government’s preferential policies, which is restricted from the perspective of areas and sale price to be provided to the urban low-income people with housing difficulty and is built in compliance with normal construction standard.
Queensland’s Department of Housing (2007) describes affordable housing as fitting the household needs and as well located about 2 services including employment, transport and the cost of housing. In Malaysia, low-cost housing refers to houses with selling prices fixed by the
Fore more: Sustainable Management of Affordable Housing