Understanding Housing Instability

As cities face rising housing costs and stagnant wages, planners can incorporate perspectives of those most vulnerable to housing instability. Vulnerability varies, and high rent is only one factor. Addressing the specifics of the housing crisis can lead to more targeted solutions.

In "Housing Precarity in Six European and North American Cities: Threatened by the Loss of a Safe, Stable, and Affordable Home" (Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 90, No. 4) Gabriela Debrunner, Katrin Hofer, Michael Wicki, Fiona Kauer, and David Kaufmann build on a survey spanning six cities and 12,611 respondents to examine how vulnerable residents perceive housing precarity in comparison to non-vulnerable residents.

Identifying Populations

The authors identify five elements of housing precarity: housing affordability, tenure security, housing satisfaction, neighborhood quality, and community cohesion. Older residents, households with children, minorities, and renters are especially vulnerable to housing precarity.

By combining two strands of housing research, this multidimensional study was interested in finding vulnerable populations' patterns of experience.

Figure 1: The five dimensions of housing precarity. The dimensions are dynamic, sometimes overlapping, and potentially have compounding effects across residents' lives.

How Precarious?

Most notably, the authors found that renters were negatively associated with all five dimensions of housing precarity. Older urban residents did not appear to be more precarious than younger urban dwellers; however, they could benefit from community activation programs designed to encourage engagement and support.

Minority households and households with children reported lower tenure security and housing satisfaction and were more likely to experience issues with housing affordability.

The authors confirmed the positive relationship between household income and precarity. As household income increased, tenure security, housing satisfaction, neighborhood quality, and community cohesion generally improved.

Being female was associated with lower levels of affordability, perceived neighborhood quality, and community cohesion, though it was positively linked to tenure security and higher housing satisfaction.

Length of stay, or the number of years people had been living in their current home, was associated with lower tenure security and lower housing satisfaction but increased neighborhood quality and community cohesion.

These findings may help urban planning actors better reflect on who is affected and how by housing precarity, leading to a resident-centered approach to urban planning. One that, the authors propose, urges land use and planning interventions sensitive to the variety of housing perceptions and needs.

The authors also call for comprehensive policies that stabilize the financial and legal housing situations of vulnerable residents.

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