An Anarchist Approach to Addressing Housing Precarity: Implementing Anarchist Strategies to Program Efforts for Housing Justice

Abstract

ABSTRACT The right to housing is fraught with impositions of market housing logic: our solutions to housing generally imply that people must be housed in conventional housing markets, with a goal that they contribute to an economy that sustains this housing model. Using an anarchist conceptual framework, this paper explores the shortcomings of some existing approaches, challenging the assumption that people experiencing housing precarity inherently desire to participate in market housing and an associated economy. Rather, an anarchist conceptual model for housing suggests that the right to housing that preferentiates need and agency over full participation in the housing market and capitalist economy, while arguing that the means used to address housing instability must be in line with intended ends we hope to see. Proposed alternatives highlight the potential for integrating anarchist tools into practices in the housing sector in order to centre agency, anti-colonial work, and justice.