Metropolitan Housing Problems;Nature and Characteristics in Amhara Region

Abstract

Urbanization is the process by which people are moving from rural to urban areas, which results in the formation of new life styles. Nowadays, it is highly contributing to the overall economic, social, cultural as well as infrastructural development of countries. Conversely, the prevalence of over urbanization results in the change in the dynamics and characteristics of housing problems. Though urban expansion has result in the birth of various housing problems, prevalent literatures and studies are not updated and limited in scale. Hence, to fill such gaps, this study is targeted at assessing the nature and characteristics of housing problems of metropolitan urban centers in Amhara region, namely Bahir Dar, Dessie and Gondar. To address this objective we have employed a crossectional descriptive research design. Specifically, 440 survey respondents were taken from Gondar (171) and Bahir Dar (167) and Dessie (102) were selected by considering land use classification and population density of each city. The result of the study revealed that there was a significant difference in the average age of respondents (F=14.54; =.001) with the relatively oldest and the youngest residing in Bahir Dar (45.32) and Dessie (35.81) respectively. Though the amount of money spent on rent of residential place was not found to be statistically significant (F=.11; =.90), its proportion relative to the income of the household was significantly higher for residents of the city of Gondar as compared to residents of the cities of Bahir Dar and Dessie. There is significant variation between the cities in terms of households hosting kitchen ( 2=16.50; =.001) – in favor of the city of Gondar – and bathroom ( 2=32.99; =.001) – in favor of Bahir Dar. On the other hand, the average number of rooms in a housing in each city was three which is not statistically significant (F=.14; =.24). In terms of the ownership status of housing units, the majority of the study population live in privately owned houses at Bahir Dar (49%), whereas rent (from government (40%) and private owners (57)) was the dominant ownership pattern at Gondar. Congestion is the most felt and reported problem of housing in Gondar (51%) which contrasts with their reports on the status of pollution in their residential areas which is relatively lower (32%).