From Supply to Satisfaction: Integrating Residents’ Feedback into Housing Policy and Urban Development in Nigeria’s Multi-Household Compounds

Abstract

Multi-household compounds are common throughout urban Nigeria, where different households interact and use shared infrastructures, facilities, and public spaces. Although such buildings offer a crucial retreat for the rapidly expanding city-dwellers, they often become grim due to overcrowding, neglect by authorities, and minimal servicing—all leading to a housing shortage. Specifically, this paper investigates the value of residents’ feedback (as measured through post-occupancy evaluations, satisfaction surveys, and collective perceptions) as a governance mechanism to shape better housing quality and urban development. Based on consumer satisfaction theory and urban governance perspectives, the article builds a conceptual model that links resident experience to housing performance and policy change. Case studies from Enugu indicate how grievances related to common property resources, public services, and developer behaviour can shape adaptive governance, regulatory reform, and accountability of developers. The paper interprets housing satisfaction as a policy tool and claims that resident feedback must be formally incorporated into housing quality standards, monitoring, and enforcement. The contribution is to the dialogue between theory and practice—a scalable model of integrating resident voices into housing policy innovation. This will help create urban living that is responsive to citizen needs, enhance accountability, and build resilience in Nigeria's rapidly expanding urbanizing cities.