Assembling a 'kind of' home in the UK private renting sector

Soaita, A. M. and McKee, K. (2019) Assembling a 'kind of' home in the UK private renting sector. Geoforum, 103, pp. 148-157. (doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.04.018)

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Abstract

Drawing on assemblage-thinking and specific assemblage concepts, this article explores the ways in which young, less affluent people create a sense of home in an unregulated, market-based private renting sector (PRS) that confers reduced tenant agency and frequent, undesired residential mobility. For this context, we propose the concept of ‘home-assembling’ to account for the ontologically, normatively and emotionally different processes involved in constructing a sense of home than those connoted by home-making. Through in-depth telephone interviews and photo elicitation, we explore: the transient, incomplete nature of practices of home personalisation; the destabilising effect of broken things which erodes the sense of home and instils feelings of unworthiness; and processes of de-territorialisation, particularly unwanted real/feared relocation, space sharing and confinement in small rooms. We document that the struggle to continually assemble, de-assemble and re-assemble a sense of home drastically reduces private tenants’ wellbeing through stress, anxiety, depression and alienation. However, we also indicate potential lines of change towards alternative futures not least by the emergence of a tenants’ ‘collective body’ as well as by casting tenants’ housing ill-being as a matter of public concern.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:We gratefully acknowledge the support of the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number: ES/P008852/1).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Soaita, Dr Adriana Mihaela
Authors: Soaita, A. M., and McKee, K.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
Journal Name:Geoforum
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0016-7185
ISSN (Online):0016-7185
Published Online:11 May 2019
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2019 The Authors
First Published:First published in Geoforum 103: 148-157
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
3001190UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE)Kenneth GibbEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC)ES/P008852/1S&PS - Urban Studies