Housing Adjustment Behaviors of Korean Elderly Immigrants Living in Affordable Housing

Abstract

This study explores the daily life patterns and housing adjustment behaviors of low-income Korean elderly immigrants residing in affordable housing in the Chicago metropolitan area. Utilizing an intercultural perspective, the study focuses on identifying the immigrants' their cultural attributes of daily living and coping responses to residential misfits. These housing adjustment behaviors are classified into five modes consisting of residential mobility, structural adaptation, residential alteration, normative adaptation, and behavioral adaptation. Two-hour in-depth interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 138 participants from 15 affordable housing complexes. Collected information includes demographic data, immigration experiences and cultural identity, daily life patterns, as well as housing evaluation and housing adjustment behaviors. The study results indicate that many research participants maintained their cultural attributes of daily living accumulated from past experiences (i.e. mostly based upon Korean cultural contexts), but also made adjustments as they complied with their aging body and new living conditions. This also reflects that immigrants' cultural needs are not limited to the use of language and ethnic goods, but are also embedded deeply in their daily life patterns to influence one's uses of the dwellings in a broader sense. All five modes of housing adjustment behaviors were observed with research participants within their residential settings. More importantly, normative and behavioral adaptations along with residential alterations occurred more simultaneously rather than sequentially when the respondents perceived discrepancy between oneself (i.e. including one's attributes, needs, and preferences) and his/her dwelling.