Making a home in the private rental sector

Changing socio-spatial definitions of sufficiency of home: evidence from London (UK) before and during the Covid-19 stay-at-home restrictions

“…There are some homes that 'are imagined to be 'better' , more socially appropriate and an ideal to be aspired to' (Blunt & Dowling, 2006, p. 100). In the context of the UK (and in general, in Anglophone countries), these normative understandings of home value, for instance, nuclear familial living over other living arrangements and home ownership over private or social rental (Bate, 2020;Soaita & McKee, 2019). Moreover, and of particular relevance to the present discussion, certain dwelling features such as dwelling type, size, and layouts also form part of these imaginaries.…”

“…Critical geographies of home recognise home as at once a material and affective space entangled with imaginaries, feelings, and meanings (Blunt & Dowling, 2006;Mallett, 2004). Home is a space of security, privacy, belonging, comfort, and stability (Bate, 2020;Easthope, 2004;Gorman-Murray, 2007;Power & Mee, 2019). These feelings and meanings are created through homemaking practices, which include, among others, controlling the materiality of dwellings, i.e., the shaping, organisation, maintenance and use of domestic spaces, and objects and belongings within them (Dowling & Mee, 2007;Gorman-Murray, 2007;Holton & Riley, 2016).…”

“…The critical literature of home has placed a focus on how homes are made by residents living in diverse social, and economic arrangements other than those associated with the imaginaries of home discussed above. For instance, research has drawn attention to homemaking in tenures such as private rental (Bate, 2020;Soaita & McKee, 2019), social housing (Mee, 2009) and temporary accommodation , and in living arrangements such as shared housing (Barratt & Green, 2017;Heath et al, 2018;Holton & Riley, 2016;Nasreen & Ruming, 2020) and multigenerational living (Easthope et al, 2015;Klocker et al, 2012). Similarly, diverse dwelling types, sizes, and layouts have also featured in this literature.…”

Place Attachment and Aging in Place: Preferences and Disruptions

“…Finally, there is a need to investigate how the institutional context influences aging-in-place preferences and whether these preferences are likely to be disrupted. As noted earlier, the Australian private rental sector is lightly regulated in comparison to many other countries (Bate, 2021;Hulse & Haffner, 2014). Thus, aging-in-place preferences may not vary as widely between owners and private renters in institutional contexts that vary from Australia's.…”

Reforming the Private Rental Sector: Challenges in the 2020s and Beyond

“…This is likely due to a variety of factors, including properties in regional areas being used for short‐term renting (for example, Airbnb), and the increase in migration to Australia following the end of COVID‐19 border restrictions. Renting in Australia is not just expensive and competitive, it can also be insecure, and housing can be poor quality (Baker et al 2019; Bate 2021; Power and Gillon 2022).…”