Dual responsibilization for housing in a housing crisis: young adults in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Young adults in various countries are experiencing deteriorating access to homeownership and affordable rental housing. Whereas many studies have focused on the shift of responsibility for housing from the state to individuals related to a meritocratic ideology, only recently have certain studies identified the ambiguity and incoherence as a significant principle in housing discourses. Responding to these, we analysed 31 narrative interviews and survey data on Czech young adults (aged 18–35), providing unique evidence from a country where access to the housing market is significantly, albeit gradually, worsening. Our focus is on who they ascribe responsibility for housing provision, demonstrating how their strong calls for state intervention intermingle with a belief that individual solutions to the housing crisis are still possible. We illustrate how this ambivalent dual responsibilization is overcome through a complex interplay between moralities, rationalities and, importantly, through reference to emotions and the practices of intergenerational transfers which normalize the attachment to existing housing practices, ideologies and responsibilities.