Interior Living Space Preferences in the Early Housing Career of Low-Income People in DKI Jakarta, Indonesia

DKI Jakarta has been the most prospective destination for Indonesian low-income urban migrants to find jobs. The need for affordable housing for low-income people increase along with the rise of low-income urban migrants' number. Providing houses for Indonesian low-income people has become the Indonesian government's concern as the housing providers for many years. There were unmatched between the housing government-supplied and the demands of the low-income people. Low-income people have unique preferences in choosing their residences. Moreover, the previous studies show one's preferences on housing develop over one's lifecycle, namely housing career. The preferences for living space is one of the house attribute importance that considered in choosing a residence. This paper will discuss the low-income people preferences on the living spaces and the changes of these preferences over their lifecycle, especially in their early housing career. The research method used distribution of living space preference changes by selected independent variables and bivariate statistical analysis with Pearson Contingency Coefficient. The study took five of the most populated districts in DKI Jakarta and used snowball sampling on 420 respondents. The paper discussion only focuses on 369 of 420 respondents who have at least 2-residence-career, while the other respondents have never moved out from their first residence. This study found that the majority of respondents consider living space when choosing their residence, and almost half of the preferences change along with the changes in the lifecycle. The results of this study are expected to be a consideration for the Indonesian government in providing affordable housing for Indonesian low-income people.