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Articles

CJRBE: VOL. 10 NO. 1, JUNE 2022

Crowding Experiences in Gentrified Multifamily Apartments in Public Housing Estates in Lagos

Submitted
July 5, 2022
Published
2022-07-05

Abstract

In Lagos, Nigeria, the dynamics of noticeable experiences in public sector multifamily housing include situations where households of higher income and status migrate to apartments built for lower income, resulting in displacements. This situation triggers some social effects like crowding, the extent of which is not yet empirically investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which crowding occurs in gentrified multifamily apartments belonging to Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC). Apartments that are no longer owned by original allottees either through purchase or re-purchase are classified as gentrified. A purposive case study of four LSDPC’s estates was adopted. The study population was 7,764 apartments comprising low income and medium income categories. A sample of 582 (7.5%) apartments was chosen. Stratification and systematic random sampling were utilized to select apartments, based on number of bedrooms and their matching proportion in each estate. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to elicit responses from household heads. Variables of interest were number of occupants, mode of ownership (tenure), ages, gender and marital arrangement of occupants. Levels of crowding for different apartment types were computed using the universally accepted Canadian National Occupancy Standard (CNOS) and the Equivalized Crowding Index (ECI). Generally, the results showed that the gentrified apartments investigated were under-occupied, similar to the non-gentrified apartments. This suggests that gentrification is not a threat factor for overcrowding or neighbourhood population bloating in LSDPC’s multifamily apartments. Therefore, social problem policies could be supported by evidence from the knowledge of crowding patterns in gentrifying households for different apartment types