Precarious Housing Research Articles

Housing situation of older adults in a vulnerable neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba. Differences based on skin color, gender and age

PurposeThe Cuban population is going through a process of demographic change and accelerated aging, which, together with a difficult economic situation, places the older adults in a complex economic reality, especially in the most vulnerable communities. This paper aims to analyze the housing situation of the older adults in a vulnerable community in Santiago de Cuba during a period of particular economic difficulty.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzes the housing situation of a sample of people over 60 years of age (n = 325) in a vulnerable community in the city of Santiago de Cuba. A structured interview was used for data collection.FindingsThe results show that most of the people over 60 years of age interviewed considered their homes to be in a poor state of repair. A significant part of the homes were built with precarious materials and had cracked walls, leaks, problems with the functioning of the toilet, broken pipes, etc. In addition, most of the houses were poorly equipped, with a large number of them lacking refrigerators, cell phones or computers or other electrical appliances (heater, shower, stove, etc.). Women, people with black skin and people over 75 years of age were in a particularly precarious housing situation.Social implicationsDemographic changes and the expected aging of the population in Cuba mean that meeting the needs of the older adults is expected to become increasingly complex. The design of public policies and administrative management should take into consideration the housing needs of people over 60 years of age in vulnerable communities, with special attention to women, racialized people and older adults.Originality/valueThe research was conducted based on the information provided by a particularly vulnerable group in Cuba (older adults), about which there is limited information available, and the data were collected during a particularly challenging time for the Cuban economy: the post-COVID-19 pandemic period. The challenges of conducting research of this nature in Cuba and the period during which data collection took place form the basis of the originality of this manuscript.

Risk communication with asylum-seekers: Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic experience in Munich

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has created a ‘double crisis’ for asylum-seekers, whose lives were already in crisis. Many reports indicated the syndemic consequences on asylum seekers’ health, underscoring the need for their inclusion in risk communication (RC) and community engagement (CE) and infodemic management (IM) actions. This study aims to describe RCCE experience with asylum seekers in Munich during the COVID-19 pandemic from an expert perspective and thus gain a thorough understanding of the requirements for inclusive RCCE. Methods Our qualitative study involved people who conducted COVID-19-related RCCE for asylum-seekers. Volunteers/workers of civil society organizations and health professionals were interviewed using purposeful sampling. After reviewing international guidelines, an interview form was created. The content analysis resulted in themes and categories. Results Four of the interviewees were health managers, while 8 were working in civil society organizations. The first category of the results describes the context in which RCCE occurs; syndemic factors (uncertainty; social exclusion and stigma; precarious housing; limited access to healthcare and unmet mental health needs) and pandemic management. The second category includes determinants of RCCE from both the asylum-seeker (trust; risk perception; health literacy; language; culture and gender) and RCCE member (competences; overburden; continuity) standpoint. The third category focuses on various RCCE-IM measures, including their effectiveness and consequences. Conclusions Syndemic factors hampered the effective implementation of RCCE for asylum seekers in Munich. RCCE determinants show that pre-crisis actions are necessary for an effective response and individual interactions should accompany community-level activities, particularly for female and marginalised migrants. This study’s scope will be expanded by incorporating the IM component.

Norita is the first of many self-managed community neighbourhoods to come: A conversation with organizers and residents of Barrio Norita Cortiñas in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (Part II)

These two conversations with organizers and residents of Barrio Norita Cortiñas in Buenos Aires reflect the ongoing struggle for housing rights in Argentina. The discussions detail the development of the self-managed community, which emerged from land occupations in Guernica during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants highlight the collective efforts to secure land through self-organization and assembly-based decision-making, ultimately purchasing land to establish a neighbourhood for 62 families. The conversations explore the obstacles faced, including government repression, real estate speculation, and economic challenges, while also emphasizing the critical role of feminist leadership and multisectoral collaboration in their fight for land and housing rights. Additionally, the residents connect their local struggle to broader national and international movements for land reclamation and workers' rights. This underscores the urgency of solidarity and collective action in confronting neoliberal policies and housing precarity.

Norita is the first of many self-managed community neighbourhoods to come: A conversation with organizers and residents of Barrio Norita Cortiñas in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (Part II)

These two conversations with organizers and residents of Barrio Norita Cortiñas in Buenos Aires reflect the ongoing struggle for housing rights in Argentina. The discussions detail the development of the self-managed community, which emerged from land occupations in Guernica during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants highlight the collective efforts to secure land through self-organization and assembly-based decision-making, ultimately purchasing land to establish a neighbourhood for 62 families. The conversations explore the obstacles faced, including government repression, real estate speculation, and economic challenges, while also emphasizing the critical role of feminist leadership and multisectoral collaboration in their fight for land and housing rights. Additionally, the residents connect their local struggle to broader national and international movements for land reclamation and workers' rights. This underscores the urgency of solidarity and collective action in confronting neoliberal policies and housing precarity.

Health status, healthcare use and prevention in Travellers in Nouvelle Aquitaine, France, 2019-2022

Abstract Background The poor health status of underserved populations is compounded by low vaccination uptake, leading to a greater risk of epidemics. On October 2017, a measles outbreak started in the southwest of France among under-vaccinated social groups, including Travellers. We aimed to describe the health status, healthcare use and child measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination coverage in Travellers according to their environmental and living conditions. Methods A cross-sectional study with a three-stage random sample design was conducted between October 2019 and March 2022 in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. Trained social workers administered face-to-face questionnaires to collect data on adults and children. Anthropometric measurements, vaccination records, and data using an environmental exposure questionnaire were also collected. Results The participation rate was high (73.6%), with 1030 adults and 337 children included. Concerning the adults, 36.6% had obesity, 14.4% reported diabetes, 24.7% hypertension, and 14.4% major depression. The prevalence of major depression was significantly higher in adults living in precarious and unauthorized housing than in those with adequate housing (19.8 vs. 14.7%, p = 0.03). The unmet health care needs in the last 12 months was 48.4%. With regard to children, 45.3% had full (i.e., 2-dose) MMR vaccination coverage at 24 months and 17.9% had obesity. Finally, 74.5% of the households experienced housing insecurity, and 22.2% did not have a supply of drinking water. Conclusions Traveller children and adults faced deleterious environmental and living conditions potentially affecting their health, healthcare use, and vaccination coverage. These results demonstrate the need for urgent interventions for underserved populations which take into account their difficult living conditions. Key messages • Travellers have a greater burden of chronic diseases than the general French population and measles-mumps-rubella vaccination coverage among Traveller children is lower than in the general population. • The more precarious the housing, the more likely Travellers are to report having a chronic disease (social exclusion gradient).

Coping with housing precarity: Roma women’s responses to housing insecurity in the Czech Republic

The article investigates how policies systematically exclude Roma women from accessing decent housing. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork with Roma women in Brno, Czech Republic, the study aims to expand the concept of housing precarity along two dimensions: ‘permanent temporality’ and ‘forced urban nomadism’. The research describes key actors and institutions, including the state and its policies, regional, city, and municipal regulations, the housing market, and the rise of private hostels driven by the ‘poverty business’. The study highlights how structural and local conditions shape the housing experiences of Roma families, emphasizing their active role in navigating precarious housing situations. It particularly focuses on the coping strategies of Roma women, such as reliance on multigenerational households and frequent relocations between various types of substandard housing. This research contributes to ongoing discussions about housing by offering a nuanced understanding of how systemic forces and individual strategies interact to produce and perpetuate housing precarity.

Hostile Environments: Housing and Asylum Policies as Drivers of Energy Deprivation Among UK Refugee Communities

ABSTRACT Although refugees in the UK are highly susceptible to the triad of factors – low income, poor housing and high energy bills – that produce vulnerability to energy deprivation, literature on this issue is rare. We therefore propose a framework towards understanding the role of “non-energy” policies as drivers of energy deprivation among UK refugees, using the conceptual lenses of deservingness, welfare chauvinism and domicide to demonstrate how the condition has been deliberately produced under the UK government’s Hostile Environment approach. We argue that this approach not only damages the physical materiality of housing and the emotional space of home, but also deleteriously impacts upon refugees’ ability to access adequate energy services. Energy deprivation thus emerges as a hidden consequence of policies that normalize precarious housing, a denial of rights, and inadequate incomes, in which “home” becomes a site of exclusion that achieves the Hostile Environment’s goal – making everyday life unbearable.

Situación de los asentamientos informales en el AMSS y sus virtudes frente a la ciudad consolidada

This article seeks to expose the current situation of the Precarious Urban Settlements (PUS) in the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador (AMSS), their typological relationships, distribution in the territory and social aspects that have been identified both in the metropolitan research and through research within a representative sample. Among the findings its shown that population densities are greater than the metropolitan average, high concentrations of PUS in densely populated municipalities yields data of approximately 20% of the metropolitan population living in settlements which in turn occupy only 7% of the metropolitan territory; high typological dispersion in which it is evident that in 63.5 % of these settlements only 15.6 % of precarious housing is contained. This characterization allowed the identification of most representative study cases to carry out a qualitative study, which for this case brought together four settlements in the municipality of Ciudad Delgado whose study revealed aspects of livelihoods and habitability that allow comparisons with the consolidated city. ILIA: Investigaciones Latinoamericanas en Ingeniería y Arquitectura, No. 01, 2024: 62-66.

Regeneration, predatory inclusion, and migrant experiences in declining rural areas in Spain and Germany

ABSTRACT Declining rural areas have become central sites for migrant settlement. In the hope that migration will counteract rural shrinkage, migrants are increasingly portrayed as catalysts to revitalize communities. This article critically examines migration to declining rural areas vis-à-vis rural reception and regeneration policies. Drawing on qualitative research including interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations, we compare migrants’ settlement experiences and their positions in rural revitalization processes in northeast Spain and eastern Germany. Our research illustrates that local reception and regeneration policies do not only sideline the role of newcomers as rural place-makers, who contribute to the sustainment (or expansion) of local services and infrastructures. They also result in conditions of ‘predatory inclusion’, in which migrants’ settlement is shaped regarding their potential ‘use’ for revitalizing local economies and housing markets in exploitative terms and along racialized lines. Facing precarious labor and housing conditions, migrants tend to reside only temporarily in our investigated areas. This article contributes to a growing body of migration research in rural areas and explains that attempts at regeneration through migration can run the risk of ignoring migrants' structural conditions, needs, mobility aspirations and life plans, thereby reinforcing racial and class-based inequalities present in rural areas.

Colectiva Feminista en Construcción

Abstract Colectiva Feminista en Construcción (La Cole) is a Black feminist political organization that emerged in 2014 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This article discusses the ways La Cole’s public discourse around sexism, racism, and homophobia in the archipelago is articulated through the collective’s presence at marches, demonstrations, and on social media. While core membership is small, La Cole has been able to convene collaborators and supporters to organize against the imposition of neoliberal economic and public policies that negatively impact the most dispossessed populations in Puerto Rico, namely Black, poor, queer, and trans women. La Cole has constructed a transnational intersectional feminist pedagogy as a means of political education both within the organization itself and more broadly in Puerto Rico’s public sphere. The organization’s pedagogical strategies include the rewriting of Christmas songs and plenas, an Afro Puerto Rican musical genre, and their Radical Feminist School, a political education space open to nonmembers. Through these pedagogical interventions La Cole simultaneously calls attention to the ways state and structural gender-based violence and femicides, housing precarity, and austerity measures affect the most marginalized sectors of the archipelago while carving out their identity as a decolonial Black feminist political organization.

No shelter is safe: Syrian refugees and housing precarity in Beirut, Lebanon

Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Lebanon has maintained an incomplete vision for its most recent wave of refugees, specifically through its “zero-camp” policy for displaced Syrians. However, it has provided no alternative shelter. In a country with no comprehensive affordable housing scheme, this has led displaced Syrians to seek informal ways of accessing spaces of refuge on their own and UNHCR to become the leading humanitarian organization in helping the most vulnerable refugees access shelter. The research reported in this field note, drawing on interviews, discussions, participant observation and analysis of secondary data, investigates how these displaced Syrians have accessed shelter and tenure in two upscale neighbourhoods in Beirut, navigating a delicate balance of legal, social, economic and spatial factors shared by both the displaced and local communities. The situation has been further complicated by Beirut’s historic sectarian divisions. The findings of the study provide an update on Syrian refugee self-settlement after the 2019 economic crisis in well-to-do neighbourhoods in Beirut, challenging the assumption that the shelter available to refugees in privileged areas might provide greater security in dire economic times.

Etiology and Risk Factors in Patients with Vulvovaginal Candidiasis in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire)

Background: Limited data on the molecular identification of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) pathogenesis in Côte d'Ivoire are available. Objective: We sought to update the data on the causes of VVC in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Methods: Conducted between May 2023 and January 2024, this cross-sectional study focused on patients with symptoms suggestive of VVC in Abidjan. Each patient underwent swab collection, direct examination, and culture. Candida chromatic agar and Auxacolor®-based identification tests were performed. A molecular-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the hyphal wall protein 1 (hwp1) gene was used to differentiate between C. albicans, C. africana, and C. dubliniensis. Results: The overall prevalence of fungal VVC was 53.6% (222/414 patients). After PCR, no C. africana or C. dubliniensis were observed. C. albicans isolates exhibited two PCR profiles: 941 bp and 941+850 bp, with C. albicans being the most frequently isolated species (70.7%) after C. tropicalis (9.9%). The most affected groups were patients younger than 25 (p = 0.018), those living in precarious housing (p < 0.0001), and pregnant women (p = 0.006). In addition, the presence of vulvovaginal candidiasis was significantly associated with vaginal irrigation (i.e., douching) frequency (p = 0.003), douche used (e.g., antibacterial or not) (p = 0.003), and underwear type (p = 0.037). The most common symptom reported was vaginal itching (46.4%). Conclusion: No strains of C. africana and C. dubliniensis were found. The increased prevalence of VVC in Abidjan warrants further studies.

Prevalence of Food Insecurity during Pregnancy in Latin American and the Caribbean Countries: A Systematic Review

In Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, women are particularly affected by food insecurity (FI). This gender gap can be amplified at certain key periods in life, particularly during pregnancy, with negative consequences on maternal and infant health. In the current geopolitical and health context, it is essential to take stock of the prevalence of FI among pregnant women in this region and the associated economic and psychosocial determinants. From 168 publications identified on Pubmed and Scopus, this systematic review selected 13 publications in 7 LAC countries. Although the published data only described the situation before the COVID-19 pandemic (2009–2019), the prevalence of FI in this population was already worrying, ranging from 28.2% to 64.9%. Only 4 of 13 studies investigated socioeconomic and psychosocial determinants among mothers in this region. Thus, the factors most frequently reported concerned mothers’ demographic characteristics (advanced age and ethnic minority), household socioeconomic characteristics (low income, poorest wealth quartile, precarious housing, and welfare recipients), the absence of a stable partner, and a low education level. High prevalences of FI have also been associated with mental distress during pregnancy. In conclusion, few recent studies (notably none since the COVID-19 pandemic) have been published in this region on the issue of FI among women during pregnancy. Yet, this knowledge is essential to the development of a logical framework for the implementation and evaluation of public health programs aimed at women and children. By reducing the FI of mothers in the LAC region, we will contribute to reducing the social inequalities in health that often manifest themselves very early in life.This study was registered at PROSPERO as CRD42024513321 (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=513321).

Application of Bioacoustic Panels in Sheet Metal Ceilings in Precarious Housing in the Peruvian Andes, City of Huancayo

Application of Bioacoustic Panels in Sheet Metal Ceilings in Precarious Housing in the Peruvian Andes, City of Huancayo

Beyond individual factors: a critical ethnographic account of urban residential fire risks, experiences, and responses in single-room occupancy (SRO) housing

BackgroundBurn injuries are a significant public health concern, closely linked to housing conditions and socioeconomic status. Residents in socioeconomically deprived neighbourhoods are at increased risk of exposure to hazards due to older and poorer housing conditions and limited access to fire protection measures. Individual behaviours such as substance use, smoking, and hoarding are often highlighted as primary causes of residential fires, overshadowing the broader socioeconomic and structural factors that also play a significant role in housing safety. This paper explores the correlation between inadequate housing conditions and heightened fire risks leading to burn injuries, focusing on the contextual factors shaping everyday urban fire risks, experiences, and responses of residents living in Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) housing in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (DTES) and staff working in the fire, health, housing (social and private), and non-profit sectors.MethodsAs part of an ongoing ethnographic study, we partnered with the Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) to conduct participant observations in private, non-profit, and government-owned SROs, modular homes, and a temporary shelter. This paper synthesizes insights from participant observations from the first author’s self-reflexive journals, including informal conversations with approximately fifty-nine individuals such as SRO tenants, SRO managers/caretakers, health workers, burn survivors, municipal staff, not-for-profit staff, and firefighters.ResultsUrgent housing-related issues contributing to inequitable everyday urban fire risks were identified, such as structural deficiencies in SRO buildings and systems, inadequate waste management and storage, and inequitable approaches to addressing hoarding. Additionally, disparities in access to information and the interaction between interpersonal and structural stigmas were significant factors, underscoring the pressing need for intervention.ConclusionCommunities like DTES, facing precarious housing conditions, disadvantaged neighbourhoods, and complex health and social challenges, necessitate a comprehensive and holistic approach to fire prevention and safety. Recognizing the interplay between housing instability, mental and physical health issues, unregulated toxic drug supply, drug criminalization, and structural inequities allows practitioners from various sectors to develop contextually driven fire prevention strategies. This multifaceted approach transcends individual-level behaviour change and is crucial for addressing the complex issues contributing to fire risks in underserved communities.

Victims of studentification? Variegated student experiences of housing precarity and homelessness in Edinburgh

ABSTRACT This paper responds to the call for research on the impacts of the student housing crisis beyond studentification through an analysis of 26 in-depth interviews with students at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, who experienced housing precarity beginning in September 2022. The testimonies provide further evidence that the increasing unaffordability of housing is creating tensions of exclusion and hardship for students, with wide-ranging impacts on mental health and academic attainment. While the extent of this crisis may seem to legitimate increased building of private sector Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) blocks, I question whether this is a rational response to a crisis of affordability.

Mapswipe for SDGs 3 & 13: take urgent cartographic action to combat heat vulnerability of manufactured and mobile home communities

ABSTRACT Our research has established the extent to which extreme heat disproportionately impacts manufactured and mobile home communities (MMHC), posing challenges in achieving both targets of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 of ‘good health and wellbeing’ and SDG 13 of ‘urgent action to combat climate change impacts’. In Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, an alarming statistic of annually 30–40% indoor heat-related mortality occurs within a mere 5% of local housing stock dedicated to MMHC. Effectively addressing the multifaceted nexus of heat vulnerability and housing precarity necessitates the availability of geospatial microdata. Yet, given the idiosyncratic nature of ownership tenure within MMHC communities, sufficient microdata at the household unit level remain notably elusive through conventional tax records or other publicly available sources. In this paper, we assess how employing MapSwipe, a crowdsourcing application affiliated with the Missing Maps initiative, improves the completeness and precision of existing MMHC cartographic data inventory. Our approach harnesses MapSwipe’s micro-tasking methodology to identify absent MMHC locations within the state of Arizona. The contribution of this research is to present a viable methodology that organizes geospatial microdata around SDG initiatives and web-based volunteer mapping to effectively target the resources required to address the heat vulnerability of MMHC.

“You're on your own, kid”: A critical analysis of Australian universities' international student mental health strategies

AbstractMental ill‐health is a serious and growing problem among university students in Australia. Within this cohort, international students are particularly vulnerable. International students in Australia have fewer social rights than domestic students and are at elevated risk of social isolation, exploitation in employment, precarious housing, financial insecurity, and racism and discrimination. When mental health challenges arise, international students are also less likely than their domestic counterparts to access support services. Against the backdrop of this escalating problem, this article presents a critical analysis of Australian universities' policy approaches to international student mental health. We ask: (a) How many universities have such policies publicly available, and (b) how do these policies understand and seek to address the problem of international student distress? Drawing on a documentary analysis of publicly available university mental health strategies, we find that—in the comparatively rare cases where such documents exist—international students' mental ill‐health is generally framed in these documents as an individual concern, placing the onus on individual students to develop “resilience” and/or seek out help. Leveraging theoretical insights concerning the collective production of (mental) health and illness, we caution that this individualisation of student distress naturalises and depoliticises the logics of financial exploitation and neglect that contribute to many international students' mental health problems to begin with.

Pediatric tuberculosis in a high burden setting: Socio-spatial distribution, blood elements features, and outcomes

BackgroundThe childhood tuberculosis (TB) epidemic has been long neglected. Data on pediatric tuberculosis is needed to develop effective strategies against TB. MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed 200 medical records from children aged 0–15 years who suffered from tuberculosis between 2011 and 2021 in Libreville, Gabon. We collected and analyzed socio-demographic data and clinical data. Results141 children files were selected (43 % girls and 57 % boys). The mean age of the patients was 9.2 years (CI: 8.5–10). Sixty per cent (60 %) of cases were from precarious housing areas, 35.34 % from mixed housing areas, and 4.51 % from residential. The cure rate was 75.24 %, 9.52 % relapsed, and 15.24 % died. Deaths were significantly higher in older children (Dunn's post-test p < 0.01). Children who recovered had higher haemoglobin and platelet counts than those who died (Dunn's test: haemoglobin p < 0.0001; thrombocytes p < 0.05). The haemoglobin threshold value of 5.5 g/dL identified children death with up to 80 % sensitivity and 86 % specificity. Thrombocytes count identified children's death with a sensitivity of 80 % and a specificity of 51 %. ConclusionPrecariousness is associated with childhood tuberculosis. The directly observed therapy (DOTS) in older children should be reinforced to limit tuberculosis-associated deaths. Haemoglobin concentration and platelet are vital prognosis markers in pediatric tuberculosis.

Reproducing displaceability in the Greek asylum accommodation system and its margins

Since 2015–2016, in the context of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’, new asylum policies altered the landscape of accommodation, housing, displacement, and (il)legalisation in Greece. This paper aims to explore the impact that the reception system established in 2016 has on everyday accommodation and urban experiences of refugees as regards their relationships with space and social connections. In doing so, it brings to the forefront the concept of ‘displaceability’ as an ongoing, non-linear, and relational sociospatial process, interrelated with housing precarity and illegalisation, through which the connections between people and places are ruptured. The paper, first, focuses on how processes and experiences of displaceability emerge for those entitled to asylum accommodation in Greece. Secondly, it examines how displaceability also concerns displaced people found at the margins of accommodation after their asylum claim has been processed, including both the cases of recognised beneficiaries of international protection and refugees with a negative decision. Thirdly, it discusses aspects of the experiences of those outside the reception system and accommodation sites, such as people arriving in Athens through informal and unregistered mobilities. The paper is based on research conducted in metropolitan Athens, Greece, as part of the TRAFIG Horizon 2020 research project.