Toward a better way to measure customer satisfaction levels in public housing: A report from Cincinnati

This paper proposes a more reliable approach to measuring public housing cu stomer satisfaction than has been used in the past, that is, one that (a) l ooks at trends in customer satisfaction rather than satisfaction at one poi nt in time; (b) looks at different components of satisfaction; and (c) comb ines qualitative and quantitative information. Cross-tabular and logistic r egression analysis were applied to a dataset containing approximately 1300 telephone interviews with residents of Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Auth ority (CMHA) housing, interviewed overfour waves (1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 ). In general the survey results parallel objective evidence from agency re cords showing CMHA to be one of the most rapidly improving local housing au thorities in the USA. Levels of housing satisfaction remained high and leve ls of neighbourhood satisfaction rose significantly during the period. Neve rtheless, the findings highlight continuing problem areas including a high level of dissatisfaction with CMHA's repair service.