Social housing: attitudes and experiences of young people

Abstract

In Lithuania, social housing is still unresolved topic both in science and policy. Currently, the unfavorable socioeconomic situation in the country prevents young adults from owning or renting housing. While the number of families in need, multi-child families and other risk groups has been increasing, the demand for social housing also grew. Furthermore, residing in a social housing is still associated with some challenges and difficulties because it is often located in the areas inhabited bya number of socially disadvantaged families. The article focusesonboth the experiences, hopes and expectations of young adults who live in social housing and the Lithuanian state’s role in social housing provision. Ten semi-structured interviews with 18–29 year old young adults residing in social housing demonstrate that the respondents experienced a difficult transition to an independent stage of life because oftheir parents’ disadvantaged socio-economic background. On the one hand, their parents could not financially support these young people, therefore, they had to apply for social housing. On the other hand, the Lithuanian state was also not able to provide them with a better access to housing. It should also be emphasized that these young people from the disadvantaged family backgrounds adjusted to the culture of poverty: they accepted deprivation as a natural state difficult to overcome. The study also demonstrates the dysfunctional housing policy in Lithuania characterized by the limited access to social housing and the inefficient system of loans for buying housing.