User Oriented Approach to Housing Design for Indians

Indians not living on reservations in rural American have serious housing problems. A study of Indian families in rural Oklahoma was taken in an effort to: (1) document the plight of these people; (2) study the interplay of socioeconomic and physical environmental conditions associated with their housing; and (3) learn what can be done to help them. The primary purposes of the study were: (1) to accurately quantify their existing housing conditions; and (2) to determine other forms of physical community organization and house complexes that might be preferable. The results of this study show that existing rural Indian housing in Oklahoma is: (1) inadequate; (2) conducive to low health standards; and (3) lacking in esthetic amenities. A microcommunity composed of several houses belonging to one extended family with certain shared facilities may be a desirable alternative.