The Impact of Housing Issue on the Well-being of Middle-Income Group

Shadiya Mohamed Baqutayan

doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p522

Abstract

Dwellers that are facing one housing issue, typically, face numerous risky housing circumstances that threaten the arrangement of their outcomes. Additionally, experiencing multiple critical housing issues can increase the negative effects that such conditions have on the whole members; physically, psychologically and emotionally. This paper discusses the effect of housing issues on the psychology wellbeing of middle-income group in Malaysia. The purpose is to understand the impact of such difficulties like housing price, safety and security, housing quality, transportation, schools and economic development on the stress and wellbeing of people in Malaysia. Simple random sampling was assigned to a large number of middle-income residents in Malaysia. The accumulated data were analysed and the descriptive statistics were used to evaluate prevalence of housing issues, housing stress and wellbeing. The finding indicated small but significant positive relationship between housing conditions and wellbeing. The housing stresses in this study are those caused by transportation, housing quality, and economic development. Hence, this research supports the critical link between good housing conditions like safe, secure, easy to transport and affordable and positive health outcome. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p522

Highlights

Issues of housing and wellbeing have become increasingly important in developed countries, and the home environment is of tremendous significance to human beings
The majority of respondents (46%) earn between RM1201-RM2400 monthly, while an estimated 23% per cent earn between RM 3601-4800, another 11% per cent is between RM 2401-3600, and the remaining 7% per cent is between RM 400-1200, the other 13% per cent is missing value. This signified that the salary average in Malaysia is very low; add into the fact that the big danger is the massive increase of housing price in Malaysia
Housing conditions always have a direct impact on family incomes, which in turn significantly influence their level of stress and psychological wellbeing

Summary

Introduction

Issues of housing and wellbeing have become increasingly important in developed countries, and the home environment is of tremendous significance to human beings. The relationship between housing issues, stress and health has been of policy interest since 1842 when Chadwick noted the low life expectancy of cellar dwellers. Housing affordability has become the main issue in housing sector as the house price and living cost continue to increase especially in urban area. In this concern much effort has been made by the Malaysian government to address the issue of affordable housing. Housing issues can have an adverse effect on the family’s psychological wellbeing; the actual relationship between housing issue and wellbeing need to be addressed

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Results

Conclusion