We implement correspondence testing to detect and assess the extent of discrimination against people with disabilities in the French rental housing market. By sending 1,750 emails in a matched-pair procedure, we provide evidence of significant and extensive discrimination against blind people with a guide dog, individuals with mental disabilities, and individuals with motor impairments in the process of rented housing allocation. However, the primary cause of discrimination against blind individuals appears to stem from the presence of the guide dog, rather than the disability itself. Our results are also consistent with the presence of statistical discrimination (particularly based on financial means). We find that absolute discrimination against disabled applicants increases in accordance with the level of rent, while real estate agents discriminate significantly less against disabled applicants than private landlords.

If literature has stressed the role of marginal gentrifiers in bringing resources to the areas where they move, apart for relevant exceptions, the potentialities and limits of their contribution to urban struggles has not been systematically addressed. This article assesses the role of these newcomers in the defence of the right to housing in post-austerity Lisbon focusing on their interaction with established activist networks. Resorting to a multi-method approach and an interactionist social movement framework, our study is supported by event analysis, 22 interviews, ethnographic observation and a questionnaire-survey. Our findings show that interactions between marginal gentrifiers and previous housing players helped to consolidate the local activist arena and contributed to the emergence of new urban collective contentious identities. Nevertheless, this contribution seems partially affected by further displacement waves in the context of growing gentrification and touristification, which have threatened the survival of resistance networks. The case of Lisbon can help illuminate similar processes in contexts highly impacted by gentrification and touristification.

The surge in second-home ownership, particularly in China, has garnered significant interest. This study delves into the motivations and satisfaction levels of Chinese second-home owners, with a focus on Confucian cultural influences and ‘face’ consciousness. Surveying 327 s-home owners in Wentang Town, China, we employ a Structural Equation Model to unravel the intricate relationships. Our findings spotlight the importance of nostalgia in fostering place attachment, influencing both individual and family ‘face.’ Place attachment, in turn, positively impacts satisfaction, primarily mediated through family ‘face,’ underscoring the cultural significance of filial piety. Additionally, we identify a moderating effect of the distance between primary and second homes, emphasizing the role of Confucianism in shaping family-centric decisions. This study offers insights into the motivations and satisfaction of Chinese second-home owners, illuminating cultural nuances. It also provides practical recommendations for policymakers and the real estate industry, advocating for family-centric second-home experiences and improved transportation accessibility.

The suburbanization of poverty has been noted in many advanced industrial nations including the UK. Theory focuses on economic and labour market restructuring combined with processes of market- and/or state-led housing change. This paper examines the contributions of housing and welfare reforms. In the UK, housing policy has driven low-income households increasingly to find accommodation in the private rental sector at the same time that welfare reforms have constrained the rents these households can afford. This paper traces the spatial consequence of these reforms, drawing on a novel combination of Government data and a database of private rental adverts. Up to 2011, the shift from social to private renting for low-income households was relatively neutral in its impacts on suburbanization. Since then, low-income households in private renting have been increasingly pushed to less central locations as rents in more central areas have risen faster. The role played by housing and welfare policy in the suburbanization of poverty needs wider consideration.

The right to housing is enshrined in Canadian law, however, access to housing can be limited by administrative requirements. This is particularly true for people experiencing homelessness and/or insecure housing, as they may not have access to documentation, such as identification or notice of assessments (i.e. income tax verification). The current research examines program eligibility and documentation requirements for access to social housing across Canada. Sixty-seven communities that receive funding from Canada’s federal government were examined via Internet-based searches. Eligibility requirements were grouped into five main categories: (1) Citizenship; (2) Finances; (3) Support needs; (4) Housing history; and (5) Legal history. Similarly, documentation requirements were grouped into four main categories: (1) Identification and Citizenship; (2) Finances; (3) Housing history; and (4) Personal circumstances. The results demonstrate the complexities in applying and being approved for social housing in Canada. The potentially onerous eligibility and documentation requirements may limit access to social housing for those who are most in need. Policy and program recommendations are discussed to improve access to social housing in Canada.

Home is not only a concrete place and a complex system of relations, but also an end-in-view that connects perceived shortcomings in the current versions of home with the desired goals and the means to achieve them. Our case study centres on a dining improvement project which strives to create home in residential institutions for people identified as disabled by serving a ‘home-like meal’. We describe three versions of home that are enacted in residential institutions – home as a commune, home as a private space and home as an intimate sphere – and document how they influence the serving of meals. We combine pragmatic theory of valuation with ethnographic research of home-making practices to assess the feasibility of these ends-in-view in relation to the housing options available to the disabled-identified. We show that when the realization of the chosen goals proves unfeasible under present circumstances, the discrepancies between the desired and actual versions of home can be effaced through various re-contextualization strategies. Of the three versions of home encountered during our intervention/research, the home enacted as an intimate sphere is the one most firmly grounded in clients’ real wishes and needs, and therefore the one most favourable to positive change.

This paper problematises the perception that enhanced competition within the Swedish residential construction sector offers a panacea to rising building costs and deteriorating housing affordability. The paper investigates the relationships between housing production, exchange, and consumption from three perspectives: (i) an historical analysis of the residential construction industry; (ii) elite semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, and (iii) an exploration of state crisis management. Instead of viewing competition within the construction sector as an isolated sphere, we argue that the inherent unevenness within this sector needs to be grasped in combination with broader political-economic developments. We claim that rising productions costs (particularly in the tenant-owner sector) have been fuelled by soaring land prices, and that this situation has provided fertile terrain for rent-seeking throughout the housing supply chain. We conclude that calls for more competition, both in Sweden and further afield, tend to oversimplify the complex issue of housing provision and shroud more fundamental housing system imbalances.

This paper examines how source of income (SOI) anti-discrimination laws in the United States affect the sociodemographic composition of households living in public housing. SOI laws make it illegal for landlords to discriminate against the source of rent payment, including housing vouchers. Landlord discrimination is a major barrier to voucher utilization, disproportionately affecting extremely low-income families and racial minorities. Thus, SOI laws may affect the pool of applicants and recipients of public housing that operate within the same local housing authority service areas. I use housing authority-level data and a difference-in-differences approach to examine the changes in the composition of households living in public housing. SOI laws significantly reduce the shares of poor and extremely poor residents in public housing, along with a decline in new entries to public housing. Results suggest potentially positive spillover effects of SOI laws, alleviating ‘concentration of poverty’ in public housing as a consequence of a policy attempt to improve accessibilities to an alternative program.