Assessment of Housing Sustainability in Social Housing Policies, Case study: Hezar Dastgah Rental Housing of Khorramabad City

Introduction Population statistics indicate many problems for future of urban areas of Iran. The middle of population age pyramid of Iran is wide. This indicates that planners and policy-makers are faced with many problems including unemployment, social issues and housing. Housing is of great importance, because it is one of the basic needs of humans. Today, in the world literature, housing does not only refer to a roof over one’s head, but it implies a physical location, residential environment, required services for a family welfare, employment plans, education facilities, and etc. Along this, one of the main problems of housing sector in Iran is the vast majority of young people with the age of marriage. Since an annual increase of marriage may indicate an increasing need in housing. Therefore, young couples are always one of the target groups in housing policies for low-income classes. Construction of rental or lease-purchase housing is an example of such policies. Some objectives of this policy are housing for those with low and moderate income, to reduction of the construction cost in residential units, use of the facilities, small apartments modeling, taking advantage of modern methods of industrial production, and housing mass production. Today, after two decades of development and implementation of this policy, assessment of the sustainability indicators of rental housing must be considered as a necessity. Therefore, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a rental housing can improve the inhabitants’ current status. Thus, this study aims to assess the rental housing policy of Hezar Dastgah in Khorramabad according to sustainability housing indices. Methodology This research is a descriptive- analytical study; and the data were collected by survey and library method. With respect to the objective, the research population includes all Hezar Dastgah rental housing households in Khorramabad City. In this neighborhood, 848 units of rental housing have been constructed in the Third Development Plan after the Revolution, so the population included 848 households. Thus, a sample selection method was used for small communities. The sample size was estimated up to 88 subjects who were increased to 120 subjects to achieve better results. Due to the relative homogeneity of statistical population, simple random sampling method was used. Data were analyzed by SPSS; and the multiple and linear regression models, T-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient were used. Results and Discussion The results showed that in the fourth level, sub-indices of a sense of belonging to a place (2.1) and social relations were of the least value among others; and quantitative dimensions and accessibility indices were equal to the average. The sustainability housing index (a combination of four dimensions), was lower than the average in the first level of the model. In addition, the results of the regression analysis showed that housing sustainability and its sub-criteria greatly affected the rental housing performance indicators. In the fourth level, social relations indicator (0.67) had the most important effect on the efficiency of housing. Meanwhile, among two sub-dimensions of the social and cultural aspects, cultural aspects (0.47) had played more important role in increasing the efficiency of housing. Among the two indices of qualitative and quantitative, qualitative aspects (0.31) had the highest impact on the performance. According to Pearson correlation coefficient, the correlations between the two variables of performance and sense of belonging to a place and social dimensions and efficiency were 0.57 and 0.50, respectively. In general, rental housing has failed to provide sustainable housing to the residents. Similarly, the efficiency of these residential units was low. Based on the results of statistical models, among all levels of the model, only accessibility and quantitative indicators were rated at a moderate level. All other indicators were reported at a very low level. Multiple linear regression analysis also indicated that, housing sustainability had an important impact on an increase in the efficiency of housing. Thus, such factors as sense of belonging to a place and socio-cultural and ecological dimensions had the highest role in the housing efficiency. Conclusion The results of this study confirm the results of previous studies and the theories of housing sustainability. The performance of this type of housing (rental housing) has been reported at a low level, due to forgetfulness of the multiple dimensions of housing (because of low sustainability index of housing). Thus, assessment of Hezar Dastgah rental housing in Khorramabad city confirms the modern concepts of housing sustainability. Furthermore, among the sustainable housing indices, social and cultural dimensions have had the most important role in the increase in the efficiency of housing, and as mentioned above, these indices were of greater priority for the residents. In this line, the obtained results prove the role of housing sustainability in housing performance and acceptance. The results show that the quantitative attitudes to housing were dominant in this policy, and finally suggest that this policy failed to meet the actual needs of the target groups.