Article

'Generation Rent' and the Emotions of Private Renting: self-worth, status and insecurity amongst low-income renters

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Citation

McKee K, Soaita A & Hoolachan J (2020) 'Generation Rent' and the Emotions of Private Renting: self-worth, status and insecurity amongst low-income renters. Housing Studies, 35 (8), pp. 1468-1487. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2019.1676400

Abstract
The UK private rented sector is increasingly accommodating a diverse range of households, many of whom are young people struggling to access other forms of housing. For those at the bottom-end of the sector, who typically have limited economic resources, it is a precarious housing tenure due to its expense and insecurity, yet few studies have explored qualitatively the emotional consequences of this for wellbeing. We address this gap in the ‘generation rent’ literature by focusing attention on those voices that have been less prominent in the literature. Informed by Madden and Marcuse’s (2016) theoretical lens of ‘residential alienation’, our study illustrates the emotional toll of private renting upon low-income groups in a national context where state regulation is more limited. In doing so, we add nuance to the literature surrounding socioeconomic differentiation within the UK private rented sector. Our arguments are also relevant to an international audience given global concerns about housing precarity and the politics of housing.

Keywords
private-rented sector; home; precarity; residential alienation; young people

Journal
Housing Studies: Volume 35, Issue 8

StatusPublished
FundersESRC Economic and Social Research Council
Publication date31/12/2020
Publication date online05/11/2019
Date accepted by journal30/09/2019
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/30211
ISSN0267-3037
eISSN1466-1810

People (1)

Professor Kim McKee

Professor Kim McKee

Professor of Housing & Social Policy, Housing Studies

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