Cross-border gentrification: housing inequalities at the Luxembourg–France border

Urban housing inequality is a major academic and policy concern in Pakistan, but empirical investigations and, in turn, evidence-based policy interventions are limited. This study examines the nature of housing inequalities and their determinants focusing on ethnolinguistic groups using a nationally representative household survey, where housing inequality is measured using two indicators: housing space usage (room per capita) and access to utilities (an index based on access to piped water, sewerage, cooking gas, and electricity). Results show that housing inequality by ethnicity is very high, and ethnic belonging, along with socioeconomic factors, significantly influences space consumption and access to utilities. Intersectionality between ethnicity, income, and education plays a crucial role in housing inequality. Balochi, Sindhi, and Siraiki communities have a lower potential for achieving adequate housing than other communities. To reduce housing inequalities, identified disadvantaged communities along with the economic poor should be targeted through housing policies and programmes.

Shared housing is a rather unusual phenomenon in Sweden. However, due to the decreasing availability of affordable housing and a large share of single-person households in urban areas, sharing is on the rise and new forms of shared housing have entered the market. By analysing how shared housing overlaps with existing patterns of socioeconomic segregation and by interviewing developers of diverse forms of shared housing in the cities of Stockholm and Malmö, this article aims to evolve the understanding of sharing housing from a perspective on housing inequality. We find that while many households are sharing housing because there are no other options, others share because they have the possibility to share certain spaces and facilities, which makes life easier and enhances a sense of togetherness. While the first category is concentrated in marginalized and racialized areas of the cities, the other category is concentrated in well-off areas. Developers offering shared solutions in marginalized areas are few but do so based on a discourse of ‘receiving less for more’, while developers offering shared housing in wealthier districts are doing so based on ‘sustainability’ and ‘making life easier’, as the shared housing includes private facilities and services that aim to support an effortless lifestyle in districts with existing urban assets. The conclusion is that sharing housing is no longer solely built on community spirit and de-growth, but sharing housing is also a reflection of contemporary housing inequality.

This paper analyses the role and effects of housing policies on residential differentiation in the city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The focus is on contemporary ‘post-privatization' housing-policy measures and their effects, although the transformation from socialism to a market economy during the 1990s is also covered. A distinct contrast was found between housing policies in Estonia and western Europe, where the welfare role is often to mitigate the detrimental effects of economic restructuring and to prevent segregation. Estonian housing policies at state and local levels do not even aim to reduce, prevent or slow down the harmful effects of the considerable income disparities that manifest in housing inequality and increasing residential differentiation. One of the main mechanisms driving residential differentiation is the relocation of people according to their ability to pay in connection with the increasing amount of renovation being undertaken. It is increasingly evident not only ...

This paper discusses the ways that race and migration have shaped the housing opportunities people experience in England. It explores the historical development of policy and practice that has shaped racial inequalities in housing. It argues that the violence created by national and local state-supported housing policies has disproportionately affected racialised minorities, as has the slow violence generated by the neglect and stigmatisation of working-class housing. In turn, this has provided the justification for clearances and the remaking of space for those with the money to invest in the financialisation of land and housing through dispossession and denial of the right to safe, secure, and affordable housing. This analysis will be used as a basis to propose ways in which housing research can develop a coherent, critical perspective to race and migration and develop an alternative discourse to challenge the dominant market-driven, individualistic narratives. Adopting a critical approach allows researchers to move beyond the logic of housing policies at national and local levels to analyse and propose action to address persistent racial inequalities in housing.

This research aims to gain an in-depth understanding of precariously housed women's experiences related to health and access to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic using a grounded theory approach. Qualitative data were obtained through interviews with 17 precariously housed women from Izmir, Turkey. Poor health among most participants was primarily attributed to unfavorable living conditions and weakened community networks. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing health issues due to barriers in accessing basic needs. Food insecurity was widespread during the pandemic and the critical role of aid and the inadequacy of social assistance in securing food were emphasized. Women's health perceptions were significantly shaped by gender, and gendered caregiving duties have restricted women's healthcare access. Access to healthcare was also limited by financial challenges, with health insurance being a crucial determinant. Longer waiting times, often exacerbated by the appointment system, and language were significant barriers to healthcare access. The findings propose that the participants were precarized by the blindness of COVID-19 measures to vulnerabilities, which resulted in deeper inequalities in housing, food, employment, and healthcare access. This research addresses the political, commercial, and social determinants of precariously housed women's health. Improving precariously housed women's health and wellbeing requires implementation of public policies targeting to improve housing quality, provide targeted assistance to food insecurity, promote gender inclusiveness, and foster gender empowerment.

Age is an important known driver of residential sorting, yet little is understood about how age segregation is affected by housing unaffordability. This relationship is particularly pertinent given trends of increasing housing inequalities and population ageing, in Europe and elsewhere. Using harmonised population data for small areas linked with local house price statistics and household incomes in England and Wales, this paper examines the scale of, and links between, residential age segregation and housing unaffordability. The results reveal a strong association between increasing housing unaffordability (for sales and rentals) and increasing residential age segregation (beyond other local characteristics). This association is particularly marked in urban and rich (least deprived) areas. This points to increasing spatial polarisation along the intersections of wealth and age: not only are the wealthiest parts of the country, where housing is particularly unaffordable, becoming increasingly demarcated socio-economically but also by age. This implies that age-related life course processes are integral to the trends observed more broadly of increasing socio-spatial polarisation.

In Australia, as in other jurisdictions, recent legislation and policy addressing child support was introduced as a response to child poverty in single-parent families. However, there has been very little research conducted on the question of how child support money is used by sole parents. This paper extends current knowledge by exploring how— and indeed, if—child support money is a useful resource in meeting the housing needs of the children of separated parents. The study reports on the findings arising out of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 33 parents who received child support money. The impact of child support is often limited by three factors: the amounts paid, the circumstances of its payment (and in particular, unreliable payments), and the values guiding its allocation. The paper argues that ultimately, the benefits of child support are constrained because it is a privatised response to gendered, structural inequalities in housing, care and income following separation and divorce.

Recent research has pointed to increasingly divided housing access across advanced economies. This reflects growing labor market inequality and rising intergenerational divides amplifying the importance of parental resources. At the same time, an increasing spatial polarization of housing markets has driven divergence between high-gain versus low-gain submarkets. This paper confronts how divided access to housing collides with growing spatial inequality in housing markets. The research turns to the Netherlands, drawing on full-population register data. First, GIS mapping exposes spatial polarization in house-value development. Second, household-level modeling demonstrates the impact of income, employment position and parental wealth in divided access to housing submarkets. Taken together, spatial polarization and differentiated access appear fundamental to driving inequalities in housing wealth accumulation.

Differences in the quality, size and location of people’s homes are often linked to differences in individuals’ economic preconditions. This is known as housing inequality. It is reasonable to assume that the link between housing accessibility and individual income becomes stronger the more the provision of housing is based on free market forces. Yet, this article argues that it’s a mistake to describe these market forces as free. They are a result of a legal institutional framework that set the market forces in motion. Furthermore, market forces are not only a result of law; they also affect law. Thus, legal and material processes affect each other. The article presents a model for analyzing how legal and material processes contribute to housing inequality. The collection of regulations that enable, enhance, or counteract these forces is what I call the law of housing inequality.

Background:Housing, a key health determinant, is increasingly unaffordable. Black/African-American communities are disproportionately affected due to a long, documented history of structural racism in housing. To date, much unaffordable housing research is economically focused, leaving holistic health consequences underexplored.Design and methods:We used a multidisciplinary lens to explore potential effects of unaffordable housing (30%+ of income) on mental, emotional, physical, and social well-being. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 individuals who were residents and/or staff members of organizations that provide housing or support resources in three historic, Black neighborhoods in westside Atlanta. Thematic analysis identified key themes.Results:Unaffordable housing can have direct and indirect adverse effects on health and wellbeing. Participants described ways that rising housing costs can increase stress, worsening mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety) and negatively impacting relationships within one’s household (e.g. spouse/partner, children) and outside of the home (e.g. friends, neighbors). Spending a disproportionate amount of income on housing can make other basic necessities unaffordable, such as food and medication. Working overtime or additional jobs to cover expenses can lead to mental and/or physical exhaustion and increase opportunities for injury for physically demanding jobs, and may also decrease time available to adequately care for oneself and their family or to invest in relationships.Conclusion:This qualitative study helps increase the breadth and depth of knowledge regarding potential effects of unaffordable housing on mental, emotional, physical, and social well-being that should be considered in the development of health-promoting housing practice, policy, and funding allocation.

COVID-19 policy responses have intensified the use of housing as a spatial and material defence against community spread of infection. In so doing, they have focussed attention upon pre-existing inequalities and the effects of socio-economic management of COVID-19. This paper draws upon individual households’ accounts to explore these effects on housing inequalities, and then adapts a critical resilience framework from disaster response in order to examine the implications for policymaking. The empirical work centres upon a case study of lived experiences of COVID-19-constrained conditions, based on a longitudinal-style study combining semi-structured interviews with 40 households, photographs and household tours at two datapoints (before/during COVID-19) in Victoria, Australia. The study reveals how these households were impacted across four domains: (1) employment, finances, services, and mobilities; (2) homemaking including comfort and energy bills, food and provisioning, and home-schooling/working from home; (3) relationships, care and privacy, and; (4) social, physical and mental health. The interviews also indicate how households coped and experienced relief payments and other related support policies during COVID-19. Drawing upon literature on disaster response, we highlight the centrality of vulnerability and resilience in recognising household exposure and sensitivity to COVID-19, and capabilities in coping. From this analysis, gaps in COVID-19 housing and welfare policy are exposed and guide a discussion for future housing policy interventions and pandemic planning.

Hong Kong offers a unique laboratory for housing studies given its notoriety for housing inequalities. This study utilized participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and photovoice to explore place-making practices in one type of illegalized housing, the residential use of industrial buildings. In contrast to studies of housing inequalities that have typically focused on marginalized communities, we found that the use of industrial buildings was adopted by educated, ‘local’ (i.e. ethnically Chinese) Hong Kongers who aspired towards socio-economic mobility. Place-making required spatial adaptations to sub-standard living environments and acclimation to routine, ongoing fears of detection from law enforcement. We argue that illegality is not necessarily an impediment to place-making, but may serve to mark the temporariness of residential spaces in industrial buildings, a temporariness that accommodates residents’ aspirational socio-economic trajectories more effectively than formal housing markets. In our study, the meaning of a place was not necessarily tied to rootedness or permanence, but rather a liminal temporality enforced by illegality.

Housing inequities are a growing global crisis. In Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa), Māori (Indigenous population) are severely impacted by this crisis due to contradictory ontologies and ideologies within the housing sector relating to Indigenous and Western viewpoints. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate barriers and navigators for stakeholders involved in urban papakāinga (modern Māori housing, sustainable city-based intergenerational ecosystem). Twenty in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with urban papakāinga leaders. The barriers identified included the funding application process and procedure. Navigators included six ontological principles: whakakitenga (holistic visioning), whakawhanaungatanga (gathering and weaving alliances), honongatanga (solidifying professional partnerships), tohungatanga (forming specialist papakāinga management), whakaponotanga (creating harmony through trust, truth, and honesty), and kotahitanga (establishing unity through kinship and oneness). The significance of investigating barriers and navigators from the perspective of Indigenous housing leadership is to identify strategies that support development of sustainable and culturally-sound urban environments. Theoretical implications include housing developments for Aotearoa, other First Nation and Indigenous communities.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Class Dynamics from Socialism to Post-Socialism

Service providers’ crucial roles in securing housing for refugees in Canada is a topic scantly addressed in the broader literature. A focus on frontline workers in the housing and settlement sectors offers a productive analytic lens to map the critical link between service provision and housing access for refugees. Based on thirteen semi-structured interviews with service providers across nine organizations in Toronto, Canada, this study illuminates housing access barriers, such as lack of affordable housing and perceived housing discrimination. Furthermore, this paper unearths the intersectional praxis of frontline workers. Broadening the analytical frame to include an intersectional lens centring race, class, immigration status, and gender, this paper enriches current scholarship on 1) housing inequality, 2) refugee settlement, and 3) intersectionality. This paper also makes an epistemic intervention in the evolving field of housing studies at critical junctures. While this research was conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this study reflects on the added complexity of the pandemic to refugees’ housing access.