Principles, dimensions and variables concerning the residential satisfaction in Mehr housing project (the case study of Mehregan town)

Housing has always been considered a need in different societies.This need more than its individual aspects, is considered a collective need. With the advent of the industrial revolution which was accmanied by unprecedented population growth and increasing urbanization , the issue of providing housing for people in need who were sent to cities in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution was introduced and by the expansion of its dimensions became more important to include in government intervention programmes. Thus, the housing problem, as a common issue in most of the world’s cities, is how to connect the creation and planning of cities with different economic, political, social and cultural contexts. Nowadays, the limited resources of the government and rapid increase in demand for housing do not provide housing for all members of society. Hence, the framework of national development goals, especially the prioritized economic and social goals specify the housing share of low-income groups. In Iran, different policies have been planned and executed. One of these policies is the “Mehr Housing Plan”. Despite being the greatest and most highly discussed national plan proposed for solving the housing problems of low-income groups, it has caused social problems and residents’ dissatisfaction. “Mehr Housing” project focuses attention on determining role of the land price in housing prices and the action to eliminate this variable, controlling the price of housing in this way, and facilitating access of vulnerable people to suitable housing, but it has ignored a set of key issues. Therefore, the main question is how to improve residents’ satisfaction and/or what principles to employ in the policies for satisfying housing of low-income groups in order to improve residents’ satisfaction and to prevent problems in these districts. Therefore, this research aims at analyzing the policies for planning low-income group housing (Mehr Housing Plan) by measuring residential satisfaction in the Mehregan Town, Mashhad and identifying its principles, sizes and variables.Therefore, surveyswere conducted according to fundamental research method and inductive and deductive analysis. Questionnaires were then used for conducting an opinion poll on the variables to achieve residential satisfaction in the Mehr Housing Plan. The questionnaire data was analyzed using factor analysis methods, regression analysis, and structural equations modeling. LISREL 8.5, PSS, and Smart PLS softwares were used.
Findings: a “holistic view” was introduced as one of the major principles in the residential satisfaction in the Mehr Housing Plan which prevented concentration on only some parts of the problems using an integrated view to problems. On the other hand, “community-driven development” allows taking advantage of local community assets and social capitals through the presence of residents in all Mehr Housing processes. This way, the measures of Mehr Housing become close to the residents’ views and finally their satisfaction is gained. In other words, the “holistic view” and community-driven development” principles are among the major policies of Mehr Housing policies; if they are considered as a basis for the measures of Mehr Housing along with “process-orientation” principle, residents will be satisfied with its outcome.
Finally, the model for communication method of the principles are depicted and proposed. Finally, the influence of “community-driven development” based on the principle of a “holistic view” is discussed.