Housing Pathways Research Articles

The sensuous secrets of shelter: How recollections of food stimulate Irish men’s reconstructions of their early formative residential experiences in Leicester, Sheffield and Manchester

This paper examines the intersection between food, recollection and Irish migrants’ reconstructions of their housing pathways in the three English cities of Leicester (East Midlands), Sheffield (South Yorkshire) and Manchester (North). Previous studies have acknowledged more implicitly the role of memory in representing the Irish migrant experience in England. Here, we adopt a different stance. We explore the mnemonic power of food to encode, decode and recode Irish men’s reconstructions of their housing pathways in England when constructing and negotiating otherness. In doing so, we apply a ‘Proustian anthropological’ approach in framing the men’s representations of their formative residential experiences in the boarding houses of the three English cities during the 1950s and 1960s are examined. The extent to which food provided in the boarding houses was used as an instrument of discipline and control is examined. The relevance of food related acts of resistance, food insecurity and acts of hedonic meat-centric eating in constructing the men’s sociocultural identity are also explored.

Putting the Squeeze on ‘Generation Rent’: Housing Benefit Claimants in the Private Rented Sector - Transitions, Marginality and Stigmatisation

The term ‘Generation Rent’ has gained currency in recent years to reflect the fact that more 25 to 34 year olds in Britain now live in rented accommodation rather than owner-occupation. The term also conveys the extent to which age-related divisions in the housing market are becoming as significant as longer standing tenure divisions. However, this portmanteau term covers a wide array of different housing circumstances - from students, young professionals and transient households to the working and non-working poor. This paper focuses on the position of a specific category of this age cohort - those 25 to 34 year olds living in self-contained accommodation in the private rented sector who are in receipt of Housing Benefit. On the basis of survey evidence and qualitative interviews with landlords and housing advisers, the paper considers how the marginal economic and housing market position of this age group is being reinforced by the stigmatising attitudes of landlords which formerly applied to tenants in their late teens and early 20s and are now being extended further along the age band. The paper suggests that the use of a ‘housing pathways’ approach to signify the housing transitions of young adults needs to be revisited, to give greater weight to collective and creative responses to constraints in the housing market and to recognise the key role played by gatekeepers such as landlords in stigmatising groups according to assumed age-related attributes.

Do objections count? Estimating the influence of residents on housing development assessment in Melbourne

This paper explores relationships between community opposition, planning assessments and local political processes. While resident opposition to development proposals is thought to delay housing supply, the nature, extent and pathways of influence have not been quantitatively established. In Victoria the number of third party objections has no direct legal weight, but in practice, development applications involve multiple decision makers. Community expectations that objection numbers “count” may reflect suspicion that refusals are more likely from elected local decision makers. This paper tests for relationships between procedural and political pathways in planning. It uses descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression models based on one year (15 676) of Melbourne residential development assessments. It is found that objection numbers increase significantly with local socio-economic status and that, as applications receive more objections, elected representatives more often intervene. Assessments by elected councilors are significantly more likely to be refused, and have relative odds more than seven times higher of resulting in appeal. The paper argues that local contestation of housing, particularly from better-resourced groups, is highly adaptable to reforms seeking to overcome or rationalise it. Reducing or shifting opportunities for third party opposition may less reduce planning uncertainty, than increase its variation, complexity, and spatial concentration.

The anticipated housing pathways to homeownership of young people in Hong Kong

Using semi-structured interviews with 160 university students, this paper analyses the anticipated housing pathways of young Chinese in Hong Kong and compares between local Hong Kong and non-local mainland students. We identify six different anticipated housing pathways by considering differences in expectations of parental support and perceptions about the affordability of homeownership. We find that expectations of financial support from parents are particularly important for non-local mainland students than for local Hong Kong students. The perception about the affordability of homeownership is not statistically significantly different between the groups. We find that 18% of all university students considered in our sample might be able to buy a high-quality private housing in the future, 12% might be constrained to less lucrative housing options such as renting public housing, and 70% might anticipate diverse housing pathways. Our findings suggest that the government should implement measures to tackle intergenerational poverty and housing segregation in the light of the diverse housing pathways of young Chinese in Hong Kong.

Housing need outcomes in England through changing times: demographic, market and policy drivers of change

The housing system in England has experienced unprecedented stress and instability over the last decade, absorbing the impact of demographic pressure, a credit-fuelled boom, financial crisis, recession and policy change. A failing supply system and unexpected tenure changes now confront austerity and welfare cutback. How have these conditions impacted on traditional and contemporary indicators of housing need and what does this tell us about the drivers and dynamics of housing need outcomes? Drawing mainly on analysis of large-scale longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys, linked to subregional market data, this paper describes and models the changes in housing need outcomes over two decades. It explores the impact of demography, market affordability, labour markets, tenure change and supply on these outcomes. Particular attention is paid to the persistence or recurrence of need in the context of different housing pathways and different market contexts, including the relationship with poverty.

An Ecological Approach to Housing Experience of Korean Women in Malaysia

This study was designed to understand the residential experience of Korean women living in tropical country. For qualitative research, interviewees were selected by snowball sampling among Korean women living in Malaysia for over 20 years. The selection criteria for interviewees included husband’s nationality, occupational experience, future living plan, frequency of travel to Korea. In-depth group and individual interviews were conducted from August 23 to October 7 2014. Subsequently (1) interviewees’ general residential experiences in Malaysia were summarized, (2) interviewee’s identity and lifestyle with housing pathways approach were clarified, (3) interviewees’ residential experiences in 5 issues, reciprocity in residential area, intention of environmental change, meaning of housing and interaction, housing adaptation, and residential satisfaction/dissatisfaction were prescribed and interpreted. In conclusion, the reflection of interviewees’ experiences in tropical country, suggested variations of housing structure type within a residential complex, air well and pocket by setback in building block for improving ventilation and noise prevention from neighbors, and ceiling fans in the house were suggested for the upcoming subtropical climate in Korea. Full option and minus options were also suggested for the presale market to reduce before occupancy remodeling needs. The research results implies valuable suggestions for a multicultural society, ecological housing and stronger communities.

Exploring the Housing Pathways of Low-Income Women: A Biographical Approach

This research explores the use of a housing pathways framework and a biographical method to improve our understanding of the long-term housing experiences of low-income women. Biographical methods have been employed in the study of vulnerable and special populations outside of the US; however, there has been limited application of the method to examine low-income households within the US. This study draws on interviews of 29 low-income women with children in a large Midwestern metropolitan area to examine the nature of low-income housing pathways. The wages provided in the jobs that were available to the women in this study were insufficient to afford even low-quality, low-rent apartments, suggesting that the ability to achieve stability in modest housing is predicated on achieving much higher levels of household income. Federal rental assistance provided through the Housing Choice Voucher programme, rather than increased job stability or wages, resulted in improved housing conditions and stability for the women in this study. Biographical methods present great potential in providing a nuanced understanding of the housing experiences and life circumstances of low-income households and other vulnerable populations in the United States.

생애사를 통해 본 중산층 기혼 여성의 첫 자가마련을 위한 주거경로

The purpose of this study is to explore the housing pathways of middle-class married women toward owning a first home. In doing so, an in-depth interview as a qualitative method was conducted, life history was utilized to track down the path to first-home owning, and all the interviews were transcribed for analysis. The research participants were well-educated middle-class full-time housewives owning a home. The findings indicated that family formation through marriage and child birth was a primary driving force to buy a home. It was shown that owning a home was perceived not just as a stepping stone for building both family wealth and social capital but as one of the most important pillars to reinforcing traditional family values. In spite of some intergenerational distinctions on the path toward home owning, commonalities across generations included that home owning was considered to be a social icon for middle-class, it became almost impossible for younger generations without parental support which stimulated the intergenerational transfer of wealth, and it was greatly determined by both family income (affordability) and home finance options(borrowing capacity). This research implies that the changing social landscape transforms the value on homeownership and could undermine the socioeconomic strengths of home owning. Nonetheless, it`s of importance to strategically assist first homebuyers who are likely to be a member of middle-class.

Staying Put! A Housing Pathway Analysis of Residential Stability in Belgium

Governments all over the world try to influence in one way or another the residential mobility of their citizens. This article takes the vantage point of why Belgians do not want to change residence a lot and how they actually succeed in doing this. We claim that the framework of a housing pathways approach helps to get to grips with the historically built-up archive of normalizing discourses and practices related to housing and diverse other domains of life. Our in-depth interviews with 67 residents reveal that normalizing discourses and practices on becoming and remaining a stable home-owner mainly support the two pillars of Belgian housing policy (home ownership and commuting) even when these practices and discourses further endorse ecological and accessibility problems. Policies that successfully want to change the relocation practices of people do have to take this archive seriously.

Housing older Australians: Loss of homeownership and pathways into housing assistance

In Australia and other ‘homeownership societies’ it has been conventional to think of housing pathways in terms of a smooth linear progression, leading to outright ownership in middle age and a retirement buffered by low housing costs. This vision of the welfare role of homeownership is an important buttress of Australian retirement incomes policy. However, this vision has been challenged in recent years as growing numbers of older Australians lose home ownership and consequently transition onto housing assistance programmes. Using Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey data we analyse pathways into housing assistance. A transition model is estimated that specifies older Australians’ pathway to housing assistance status as a function of key socioeconomic and demographic determinants such as wealth and debt, health, marital status, tenure and employment history programmes. We find that those losing home ownership have a higher chance of becoming users of housing assistance programmes than similarly positioned longer-term renters, a result that is particularly evident among ex-owners that are exposed to adverse biographical events. The theoretical implications of our findings for the scholarship on housing pathways are discussed.

Holistic housing pathways for Australian families through the childbearing years

For the previous generation, the typical housing tenure pathway in Australia was more clearly defined, with young adults leaving the family home to marry and experience the birth of the first child while residing in a rental home, before entry into home ownership. For the first time in Australia, longitudinal data is available that allows the examination of housing tenure transitions along with other life events, in particular the birth of children, marital transitions and changes in employment. Sequences of tenure transitions and life events were derived for a large sample of individuals using ten waves of data (2001-2010) from the longitudinal Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, with a focus on families with children or of childbearing age. The statistical method of multi-channel sequence analysis was used to identify a typology of housing pathways from these data sequences. Half of all individuals in the sample do not experience any transitions in housing tenure status during the period of the survey and these people record notably fewer transitions in marital status. The main typologies identified were related to transitioning into home ownership, with the birth of a child occurring either before or after the transition. Previously, some individuals also entered home ownership before the birth of their first child rather than after, but it was not acknowledged as a major housing pathway as it is now. In this study, the majority of housing tenure and life event sequences showed that individuals were already married by the time of transitioning into home ownership. Pathways are now more diverse with transitions into home ownership often occurring both before and after the birth of a child, with marriage preceding the decision to buy a home.

Navigating the field of housing: housing pathways of young people in Amsterdam

In many western cities, housing opportunities of young people are increasingly constrained due to housing market reforms and decreasing affordability as a result of processes of gentrification. Little is known about how young people deal with these constraints and how this differs across class and other boundaries. This paper addresses this question, by showing how young people make use of various forms of capital to gain access to specific sections of the housing market. Connecting concepts of Bourdieu and De Certeau to theories about housing pathways, this paper presents new ideas about how young people follow different pathways as they navigate the housing field. Next to a linear housing pathway, this paper presents two other housing pathway types: young households can either follow a chaotic pathway deliberately and relatively successfully or become trapped in a chaotic pathway. This paper shows the possession of various forms of capital, and their utilisation has a marked influence on the type of pathway young people follow.

The Housing Pathways of Young People in the UK

The authors examine the housing pathways of young people in the UK in the years 1999 to 2008, and consider the changing nature of these pathways in the run up to 2020. They employ a highly innovative methodology, which begins with the identification and description of key drivers likely to affect young people's housing circumstances in the future. The empirical identification and analysis of housing pathways is then achieved using multiple-sequence analysis and cluster analysis of the British Household Panel Survey, contextualised by qualitative interviews with a large sample of young people. The authors describe how the interactions between the meanings, perceptions, and aspirations of young people, and the opportunities and constraints imposed by the drivers, are having a major impact on young people's housing pathways, resulting in considerable housing policy challenges, particularly in relation to the private rented sector.

Approaches to and Issues in Research on Multi-Cultural Family Homes

As cultural diversity has gained a great deal of attention and the social fabric of Korean society is redefined, the number of studies on multi-cultural family homes has been growing in the area of human ecology, but relevant research is rarely found on the subject of housing. While the emphasis of housing research is on multidisciplinary approaches and empirical research is highly valued, a theoretical and methodological platform for discussing the new rising agenda of multi-cultural family homes is lacking. The purpose of this study was to explore approaches to and to discuss the issues in research for multi-cultural family homes in terms of housing theories and multidisciplinary approaches. To understand the housing related needs of multi-cultural families, this study highlights social constructionism, the ecological perspective, and feminist epistemology. These three multidisciplinary approaches were useful for generating an ontological analysis of multi-cultural family homes. Further, this study highlights two housing related theories, the microsociological and housing pathways approaches, for dealing with multi-cultural family homes. In conclusion, the five approaches were useful for exploring issues in housing research on multi-cultural family homes with appropriate research methods like hermeneutics, quantitative, and qualitative methods, and field research. Insights into using perspectives and holistic approaches might be useful for solving the problems of multi-cultural family homes in Korea.

Chaotic, fluid and unstable: an exploration of the complex housing trajectories of homeless people in Flanders, Belgium

This article analyses the housing and homeless pathways of (ex)homeless persons in the coastal city of Ostend. After a short review of the literature on the causes and meaning of the vulnerability of homeless persons, we describe how our case study with (former) homeless persons in Ostend was organised. We deal with some methodological issues and the analytic results, revealing a very complex housing trajectory. We focus on these dynamic and complex housing pathways and look at the role of relationships and relationship breakdown, work and unemployment, eviction after rent arrears and moving as an escape strategy. We also deal with the searching process for housing and the role of social networks. We end with some conclusions and interest points for policy.

Mobilities of Disadvantage: The Housing Pathways of Low-income Australians

Mobility is often overlooked in debates about spatial disadvantage, which tend to focus on place. In this paper, the focus is on residential mobility and the ways in which it derives from, and contributes to, processes of social disadvantage. Building on David Clapham’s concept of ‘housing pathways’, mobility-based disadvantage is analysed with a focus on questions of housing quality, control over residential moves and accumulation of economic, social and cultural capital through such moves. These themes are considered in an empirical study of the housing pathways of sixty low-income households in Australia, through which four typical patterns are identified as ‘mobilities of disadvantage’: hectic private rental pathways; pathways of homelessness; pathways out of homeownership; and, repeat moves in and out of social housing. These pathways represent one neglected aspect of the ‘unfair structure’ of the Australian city, as a network of pathways rather than a mosaic of places.

Public Housing and Life Chances: Insights from a Longitudinal Study

The lack of affordable housing for low-income families with children in Australia is an issue of considerable concern in a context where access to public housing has become quite restricted and where home ownership remains the dream. The longitudinal Life Chances Study provides data to explore housing histories of 137 families with young children over an 18-year period, highlighting the lower home ownership of low-income families over time. The article then considers the housing history of 20 of the families who lived in the same high-rise public housing estate at the start of the study. Three case studies illustrate their housing pathways. While families had both positive and negative experiences in public housing, public housing provided an affordable and secure base while they established themselves in employment and saved to purchase homes. The article confirms the importance of access to public housing for low-income families.

Housing Pathways of Camping Ground Residents in New Zealand

A housing pathways approach captures the dynamics of housing: people's experiences of movement between dwellings and location, their decision making and preferences over time and space (Clapham, 2002). This paper presents the narratives of camping ground residents and community key informants, through discussing the experiences of residents in, through and out of camping grounds in New Zealand. The movement in and out of camping grounds is not a discrete event, but can be seen as affecting and affected by previous and future moves. This paper has a particular focus on the forced nature of many residents' pathways. The narratives highlight social, economic and political factors affecting residents' access to housing, and show the social exclusion experienced by many residents. The experiences of camping ground residents are placed within the context of the broad housing sector, which draws attention to the complexity of housing pathways.

Housing Pathways of Disabled Young People: Evidence for Policy and Practice

Most studies of disabled young people's housing experiences focus on structural constraints, with little attention given to the role of young people themselves in shaping their housing biographies. Using Clapham's (2002) housing pathways framework, this paper reflects on new empirical data to examine interactions between structure, agency and wider discourses in the housing pathways of disabled young people. The paper develops a typology of disabled young people's housing pathways, consisting of direct, staged and return pathways to independent living. Within each of these pathways, young people face key challenges of deciding to leave, finding suitable accommodation and maintaining their accommodation. The research identifies some of the complex interconnected factors that shape the ways young people negotiate these challenges and in doing so key messages emerge for policy makers and practitioners. Moreover, the paper not only informs policy and practice but also responds to questions that have recently been asked of the pathways framework and social constructionism more generally.

Housing Pathways of Young People Who Have Left Out-of-Home State Care

As a group, young people leaving care experience multiple forms of disadvantage, including high rates of homelessness and insecure housing. Researchers have described the associated housing and life trajectories in terms of pathways but few have explicitly referenced the metaphor to the interrelationship of structure and agency that is core to Clapham’s housing pathways approach. In this paper we draw on semi-structured interviews with 77 young people who have left state care in the last five years. We identify two distinct pathways young people travel when they leave care: a smooth and a volatile pathway. Young people on both pathways face similar structural disadvantages but are differentiated in terms of their experiences in care, their ability to plan and control their transition into independent living, the degree to which supportive social networks are available and the constraints they face accessing and maintaining housing. We argue social networks are a particularly important element of the housing pathways of young care leavers, shaping, and being shaped by, their socio-economic position and engagement with institutions. They may offer important material and emotional resources that can support appropriate housing but they can also promote housing instability and entrench disadvantage.