Housing/ Residential

Environment
Meaza Gezu

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 Learning Outcomes

• Define housing?

• Discuss public health importance of housing?

• Identify requirements for a housing to be healthful?

• Discuss the fundamental principles of healthful

housing?

• Describe planning, zoning?

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• “Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well being of
himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care”.

• [UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS]

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 Definition

Residential environment
“the physical structure that man uses for shelter and the environs of that
structure including all necessary services, facilities, equipment and devices
needed or desired for the physical and mental health and social well-
being of the family and individual.” (WHO, Expert committee
meeting 1961)

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 Residential environment

– The physical environment

The physical structure OR a building where a person & his/her
families live, grow, and work.
Provide shelter, Space and facilities to fulfill the
requirements for everyday domestic life with fundamental
necessity to cook, eat, sleep, keep our hygiene, perform
tasks etc.
 The social environment:
With the fundamental necessity for socialization, being
secured and enjoy the maximum privacy!

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 Housing

Its intimately linked with

✓ Economic status
✓ Education status
✓ Social environment: Customs, traditions of local, regional and
national physical environment

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 Categories of housing
Standard Housing:- is a house that is:-
✓ properly planned and constructed
✓comfortable
✓constructed in proper site
✓safe to live in
✓fulfil the basic housing necessities such as:
-safe and adequate water supply
- safe and proper waste disposal
-adequate light & space
-well ventilated, etc.

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 Categories of housing
• Substandard housing : is a house, which is poorly sited,
planned and constructed, overcrowded, poorly maintained and
lack basic sanitary facilities.

• Blighted housing :is the building where housing conditions

are starting to deteriorate.

• Slum: a highly congested, usually urban, residential area

characterized by substandard, deteriorated, unsanitary
buildings, poverty, and social disorganization

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 Categories…
• Slum is an area that combines various extents of the
following characteristics:
✓ Inadequate access to safe water;
✓ Inadequate access to sanitation and other
infrastructure;
✓ Poor structural quality of housing;
✓ Overcrowding
✓ Insecure residential status

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Slum areas in Addis

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 Extreme slum
1. Provided with inadequate and contaminated water supply
2. Lack of toilets or space to construct an excreta disposal
facility outside of the structure
3. Lack of bathing facility inside or outside the structure
4. Greater than 1.5 persons per habitable room
5. Overcrowding of sleeping rooms (less than 3.6 m2.) of sleeping area
per person)
6. Lack of dual egress (doors for emergency exits)
7. Lack of installed electricity
8. Rooms lacking windows for light and ventilation

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 Public Health Importance of Housing

• Increased infections: due to overcrowding and lack of

basic sanitary facilities. Respiratory, GI, skin, and eye
infections

• Increased infestation: with rats, bed bugs, lice, flies,

mosquitoes

• Increased accidents: falls & fire

• Social problems: Juvenile delinquency, alcoholism,

prostitution, narcotics, etc

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 Discussion point

• What are the basic requirements of a healthful

housing and residential environment?

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 Fundamental principles of housing

1. Satisfaction of Physiological need

2. Satisfaction of psychological need

3. Protection against accidents

4. Protection against infectious disease

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 Fundamental principles of housing

1. Satisfaction of physiological need:

• Adequate day light: enhancement for the synthesis of Vitamin
D and bactericidal effect
• Adequate artificial light preferably electricity
• Clean air: free from chemical and biological hazards
• Free from noise pollution
• Maintenance of thermal comfort: during hot and cold time
• Adequate space for exercise

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 Fundamental principles of housing…

2. Satisfaction of psychological need

Space, Security, Light and Noise

Privacy
Free from frightening conditions,

aesthetic satisfaction

Rooms for reading & spiritual purpose

Road infrastructure

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 Fundamental principles of housing…
3. Protection against accidents
Falls
• Falls associated with baths
• Falls on the level
• Falls associated with stairs and steps
• Falls between levels
Electric Shocks, Fires, Burns and Scalds
• Electrical hazards
• Fire
• Hot surfaces and materials
N.B. These accidents could be either due to design and
construction, lack of maintenance, or human activities

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 Fundamental principles of housing…
4. Protection against infectious disease
• Provision of safe water supply
• Proper excreta and refuse disposal
• Prevention of vermin, insects, rodents infestation
• proper storage for foods
• Provision of adequate sleeping spaces to minimizes the spread
of contagious infections

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 Zoning and Town Planning
➢Town planning is the activity where future direction of development of a
certain town is designed to improve physical and social environments
through wise use of community resources.

➢zoning is the division of land (town/city) into different districts with

particular characteristics.

Types of Zoning
✓Residential Zone / District
✓Commercial (Business) Zone
✓Industrial Zone / District
✓Recreational Zone
✓Institutional Zone (schools, hospitals
and etc)

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 Zoning

Zoning Principles of zoning

• Residential • Wind direction
• Commercial area • Topography
• Green area • Accessibility to social
• Public services services
• Industrial

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 Housing management
Phase Activities
Site selection: Adequate size, not swampy, low
Macro zoning water table, access to water, social
Micro Zoning services, access to infrastructure, far
from sources of pollution (air, noise)

Planning: Design, area and air volume

Building codes requirement, composition of rooms,
Housing codes green area, safety structure, waste
Fundamental requirements disposal facilities, etc

Construction Inspection, monitoring

Evaluation Checking the plan against the
Commissioning construction
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 Planning stage
• Ventilation
• Illumination
• Space Occupancy

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 Ventilation
• Ventilation is the process of supplying air to or removing
it from any enclosed space by natural or mechanical
means

• provide oxygen for breathing in and to remove carbon

dioxide from breathing out;
• remove excess heat or, if conditioned, provide heat in
winter and keep a comfortable temperature;
• dilute and remove body and other types of odours (eg
food)

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 Ventilation
▪ Breathing in closed environment reduce O2 and increase CO2 this can create a
stagnant air.
▪ A 0.5% of CO2 increase in the living environment would require a slight
increase of lung ventilation while 10% CO2 increase cannot be endured for
more than few minutes.
▪ Ventilation is therefore, aimed at removing these undesirable effects from
indoor environment.
▪ The recommended velocity of air to attain comfort is 6.1 to 15.2 meter/ minute.
▪ Too high velocity can cause air draught
▪ Air draught is a steady stream of cold air directed upon the body that can cause
contraction of the capillaries
▪ Total area of windows should be equal to 10% of the floor area.

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 Methods of ventilation of houses
Through ventilation:- The windows are placed opposite to each other so that a
current of air passes straight through the room

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 Cross ventilation:- the windows are placed diagonally so that
a current of air circulates and passes across the room

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 Illumination
Proper lighting is essential for cleanliness, accident prevention
and to reduce fatigue in the homes
Methods of illuminating a house;
I. Natural lighting; consider;
- Building orientation
- Number, size and position/ location of windows
- Types of wall color
Sunlight has bactericidal effect and helps the body
produce its own vitamin D.
The window/glass area should be10% - 20 % of the
floor area, if walls and ceiling are light in colour.

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 Illumination
II. Artificial Lighting
➢ Characteristics of good lighting;
• Should be adequate in power
• Constant and uniform
• Flickers and vibrations are absent
• Absence of glare and shadows.
• Lighting amount should fit the demand of the task in a
specific room!
• Adequacy depend on task, type and individuals

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 Space and Occupancy
• There is a direct relationship between good housing and good
mental health
• Provision of adequate privacy for family members promote the
psychological wellbeing of the inhabitants

• Privacy is the ability of a person(s) to carryout an activity

commenced without interruption or interference either by
sight or sound
• Ten years old or over, of opposite sexes (not being husband
and wife) shouldn’t sleep in the same room.

• Children over 2 years of age should be separated from the

parent's sleeping room
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 Effects of occupancy

• There are five effects of human occupancy in unventilated

rooms.
• These are:
1. Decrease in oxygen content
2. Increase the amount of carbon dioxide
3. Increase in organic matter (odour, bacteria from mouth, skin,
clothing, etc)
4. Increase the temperature and humidity of the room.
5. Increase the transmission of communicable diseases such as
skin disease, TB, etc.

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 Guide line for healthful housing
American Public Health Association: Occupancy
• 10.2 m2 or more -----------------------------2 persons.
• 8.36 m2 to 10.2 m2-------------------------1 1/2
persons.
• 6.5m2 to 8.36m2------------------------- 1 Person.
• 4.6m2 to 6.5m2--------------------------------1/2
Person.
• Under 4.6m2 ----------------------------------- nil.

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 Guide line
• Great Britain 1957
• 1 room: 2 person
• 2 room: 3 person
• 3room: 5 person
• 4 room: 7.5 person

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 Housing improvement programs

This is mainly done at National and Community level

• Periodical maintenance needs (housing
conservation);
• Slum upgrading (rehabilitation)
• Slum clearance (redevelopment)
• New settlement construction: by the government
and individuals
• Housing incentives (land, finance, credits)

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 Housing improvement programs

• Low cost housing development (housing cooperatives)

• Housing policy issuance: building codes, zoning,
pollution control, etc.
• The urban Municipality, Regional Governments and
Federal Government are facilitators, promoters,
implementers, of public housing programs.

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 Housing regulation in Ethiopia
• In the developed world, housing regulations are much more
advanced, as an example:- Texas housing codes:
– Housing ordinance
In Ethiopia,
• For Modern Houses?? Building code?- mainly in urban

• For traditional housing- recommended on HEP in 2004 as:

– Building and Maintaining Healthful House Extension Package.pdf
(Source: www.moh.gov.et)

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 Challenges and opportunist
In Urban areas?
Challenges: slum areas and re-development

Opportunities: Condominium houses

In Rural settings?
Challenge: traditional way of housing

Opportunities: HEP?

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 Poor housing condition in Ethiopia
• Overcrowding,
• Poor housekeeping,
• Poor designing and construction, etc.
• The above are the major factors for presence of
substandard housing and poor health status of the
occupants

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 Status of housing in Ethiopia(source
2011 EDHS)

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 2016 EDHS

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 References
1. Salvato JA. Environmental Engineering and Sanitation, 5th edition New Jersey,
John Wiley & Sons,2003
2. Hilu D, Faris K, Adimassu M, Tassew S. Housing and Institutional Health,
Hawassa University 2002
3. Lewis H.K. Clay’s Handbook of Environmental Health, 9th edition ,New
York, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.

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