Affordable Housing: Precariousness and Expectations

• In Event: 411 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 07. Housing, Poverty, and Inequality.

Abstract

Social life is a patterned life and experiences of and within these patterns vary. We must think of housing and time outside of housing as varying. Knowledge and discussions of precarious housing are more centered on those in the street because they are extreme examples and stand out more. Housing is a continuum ranging from living with no housing to being securely and stably housed. There are a large amount of individuals that have a home but find these situations tenuous and precarious, as they can be unsafe and unaffordable. Affordable housing is a broad term and is typically aimed at those in poverty. This ongoing research seeks to understand affordable housing and those seeking it or within it. More specifically, this research aims to understand and identify the social and time constraints placed on individuals in precarious housing and how these constraints affect their future housing situations. I do this through the use of surveys, time diaries, shadows, and interviews. A preliminary analysis of the data reveals that individuals that use charitable organizations in the Western New York area have a residence and the predominant problem is affording the residence. This reveals a need to construct more rigid typologies of affordable housing and precarious housing.

Author

• Gregory Michael Hall, SUNY at Buffalo