Short-term rentals (STRs) have become a key topic in housing and urban studies, typically through accounts that focus on the role of platforms and portray Airbnb as the main driver of technological disruption and market transformation. This paper challenges that narrative by situating Airbnb within the broader history of digitalisation in the hospitality industry. Drawing on participant observation at three industry events and 18 semi-structured interviews with market actors, we trace the evolution of STR digitalisation from early online distribution systems to the integrated software ecosystems of today. Adopting an infrastructural perspective, the analysis conceptualises STR markets as organised through an interconnected assemblage of platforms, property management systems, channel managers, pricing algorithms, and analytics software, all of which are linked via APIs. This PropTech infrastructure operates as an obligatory passage point for professional market actors, shaping access to demand, enabling multi-channel distribution, and producing continuous streams of operational data. Control over this infrastructure becomes a source of market power by enabling the aggregation and repurposing of operational data for market analysis and asset valuation. This helps to extend financial logics into housing and intensify the touristification of places.
Although the right to housing has long been recognised in various charters and documents, housing provision remains inadequate in most European welfare states. Moreover, conditionality is an increasing trend in social policy, heightening competition for resources among different vulnerable groups. The impact of making access to social housing and welfare benefits for people experiencing homelessness subject to conditions has received limited attention, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe. This study focuses on perceptions of and attitudes towards people experiencing homelessness in Slovenia. Using a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data, it identifies how the deservingness of people experiencing homelessness is perceived and positioned relative to other recipients of welfare state services and benefits, while discussing arguments for conditionality. Results show that people experiencing homelessness ranked relatively high, and the state was viewed as responsible for providing support to this group. However, this generally positive attitude comes with specific conditions, as focus group discussions revealed that the attitude criterion concerning willingness to change was commonly used to justify or condition deservingness. The article contributes to academic debates on deservingness and conditionality found in public attitudes as barriers to the implementation of policies addressing the needs of people experiencing homelessness.
Understanding housing policy requires examining not only policy outcomes, but also how policy problems are constructed and which forms of knowledge are brought into policy design. This paper examines selective knowledge use in Danish housing policy through an analysis of the Parallel Society Act (PSA), a national framework mandating demolition, tenure conversion and the sale of non-profit housing in selected neighbourhoods as a response to residential segregation. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with policymakers, municipal officials, housing association representatives, scholars and residents conducted in 2019 and 2023, combined with analysis of policy documents and academic literature, the paper analyses how knowledge relating to segregation and area-based interventions was mobilised, reinterpreted or ignored in the policy's formulation. The findings show that policy design relied heavily on administrative data and measurable indicators, while structural research evidence and experiential knowledge were marginalised. By conceptualising the PSA as a selective knowledge regime, the paper contributes to debates on housing policy design and evidence-based policymaking by demonstrating how political priorities shape what counts as knowledge in highly politicised policy fields.
Studies on intergenerational housing-related within-family resource transfers have demonstrated how transfers influence the housing outcomes of their recipients (tenure, wealth) but much less attention has been given to their impact on the housing market and prices. This article aims to fill this knowledge gap and analyse the form and strength of this impact in the Czech Republic, a country where family plays a significant role in housing provision. We assess financial literacy, housing price expectations, and adherence to social norms among transfer-givers (henceforth 'transferors'). Second, we analyse how strongly inter-vivo transfers actually impact housing demand, prices, and investments. Our results show that transferors have strong normative homebuying attitudes that may contribute to housing price volatility if transmitted into the real market behaviour of transfer-receivers. We also found that transfers, indeed, significantly increase housing demand, annual capital gains, and the housing investment activity of their recipients. We recommend policies in the field of property taxation and macroprudential regulation to tackle the combined effect of transfers on markets and inequality.
Housing unaffordability and online platforms have turned shared housing into a mainstream housing strategy, even among strangers and those sharing by necessity not choice. Planning and policy, however, have not kept up with the evolving landscape. Current discourse often ignores the social dimension of shared housing, yet it is one of its defining features. Here, we examine how shared rental listers envision homemaking and domesticity through analysis of thousands of rental listings in Los Angeles, asking whether shared arrangements are primarily transactional or oriented towards building social home environments. Using human-assisted machine learning informed by qualitative coding, we categorise listings as transactional or social, then analyse subsamples through thematic content analysis. We find that less than one-third of listings signal social sharing environments; most emphasise transactional arrangements. We argue that this spectrum spans radically different visions of 'home'. While social listings embrace the unavoidable social dimension of shared living and treat homemaking as a collective household project, transactional listings essentially aim to recreate private living, fashioning the shared home through boundary setting and relegating homemaking to individual co-tenants. Uncovering this spectrum of homemaking practices helps policymakers understand shared housing's unique affordances and constraints and craft more-effective policy.
The article examines how housing and climate policy are integrated on the local level by reporting insights from case studies in Finnish and German cities. For this purpose, the specific features of the two policy areas within the two countries and the responsibilities of the various political levels are described and discussed. The empirical part is mainly based on interviews conducted with elected local politicians in six cities which have been selected following an 'influential cases' design. The main results are that housing and climate policy are mostly considered separately on the local level due to classic inhibitors for integration as discussed in the planning and public administration literature. Among the most important inhibitors are divergent priorities and interests, prioritisation of the need for new housing and a lack of general political commitment for integration. The institutional setup of the city administration also plays an important role. The article concludes by giving advice for achieving integration by establishing cross-cutting council committees and addressing the lack of integrative leadership.
In this article, we look at the role of density in neighbourhood satisfaction. Our context is a Nordic capital area experiencing increasing densification and growing segregation. In theory, given internationally low segregation levels and preventive segregation management, it could be expected that neighbourhood satisfaction would not show significant variation across neighbourhoods in the Helsinki metropolitan area. However, our findings suggest that spatial variation in neighbourhood satisfaction persists despite equalising measures. It is associated with neighbourhood density: after controlling for neighbourhood centrality, neighbourhood satisfaction declines as density increases. This association seems to be mediated by population composition and tenure structure. Understanding the role of density in neighbourhood satisfaction and subjective well-being is crucial for assessing the societal implications of the current planning paradigm of densification. As residential perceptions form part of segregation dynamics, subjective experiences across different social and spatial contexts, particularly negative ones, can help understand and potentially mitigate segregation trajectories.
Under rentier capitalism, class struggle extends beyond production, encompassing the entire process of value appropriation, circulation and distribution. Housing is a stark example. In post-war Nordic welfare states, organised labour played key roles in endorsing wide provision of affordable social housing. Today, workers are not only dominated as wage-labourers but also as tenants and debtors, struggling against rising rents and precarious mortgages. How are labour organisations adjusting their role in this complex struggle? Illustrating the omnipresence of rentiership, we explore the case of an unexpected rentier: the trade union. In 1969, Finnish trade unions established a social housing cooperative, VVO, to provide affordable housing for their members. Over the following decades, VVO became one of the largest social rental housing providers in Finland. Since the 1990s, it has privatised or sold off most of its social housing stock. Known today as Kojamo, it is Finland's largest private real estate investment company. Finnish trade unions remain among Kojamo's biggest shareholders. This paper explores how and why unions decided to assetise their affordable housing. Through a qualitative document study supplemented with expert interviews, we find the answer in a residualising state housing policy and the retrenching role and realignment of unions' purposes.
Health and socio-political crises combined during the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit (the UK's exit from the European Union) impacting the housing experiences of migrant essential workers. Major new research funded by the UK Economic and Social Council generated three datasets: an online survey (n = 1,105) and interviews with 40 UK-based Polish essential workers and 10 stakeholders. The sequential exploratory mixed-methods analysis reveals housing precarity as the missing link in understanding systemic resilience during times of ongoing polycrisis. We find housing precarity is not only intersectionally differentiated and compounded for individual migrants but also creates society-wide vulnerabilities that undermine the labour market, economy and society. Essential workers whose financial situation worsened, job changed and/or employment was part-time were disproportionately affected. Youth, especially men with lower education, limited access to social security and insecure immigration status were particularly associated with moving home. Overcrowding was problematic because of housemates and landlords, with shared private rental accommodation exposing essential workers to health risks. Lack of access to green space was the element of housing precarity most clearly connected with worsening mental health. Better housing outcomes in Scotland imply that localised approaches in other countries might support essential work even within broader hostile immigration policy contexts.
The design and effectiveness of rent controls and the role of large landlords in rental markets are both under active debate across Europe. This paper examines how landlord size interacts with rent control regulations to shape rent-setting behaviour in Ireland. Using a novel annual property-level dataset covering over 334,000 tenancy registrations from 2022 to 2024, both the magnitude and timing of price adjustments in rent-controlled and non-rent-controlled areas are studied. Despite rising average market rent levels, individual property-level rent increases were moderate, with 60% of rents unchanged year-on-year. Rent-controlled areas experienced lower increases, especially at tenant turnover where rents rose 9-10 percentage points less than in non-controlled areas, highlighting the broad effectiveness of this second-generation control in limiting households' rent increases. The largest landlords (100+ properties) applied lower increases in rent-controlled areas, were twice as likely to price at the cap, but less likely to impose large hikes than smaller landlords. These findings highlight the need to account for landlord heterogeneity and market structure when designing rent control regulations and tailoring enforcement mechanisms. High-quality property-level data are crucial for evaluating policy effectiveness and uncovering nuanced pricing patterns that aggregate indicators may obscure.
This paper examines how individuals experiencing homelessness in Brussels navigate reciprocal networks to secure non-statutory shelter through sofa surfing and squatting. Drawing on 22 housing biographies, the study explores the dynamics of reciprocity beyond kinship ties, highlighting its potential and fragility in highly precarious contexts. While these arrangements offer temporary relief, they often involve power imbalances and can lead to exploitation or negative reciprocity. Using Polanyi's framework of economic integration spheres, the analysis situates reciprocity as a vital yet underexplored mechanism for meeting shelter needs, contrasting it with market and redistributive logics. Findings underscore that informal strategies are not merely coping practices but acts of claiming humanity and, in some cases, political visibility. Policy implications include recognising sofa surfing as homelessness, supporting dignified squatting initiatives, and leveraging reciprocal systems for alternative housing models that reintroduce care into dwelling.
In this paper we examine how the housing crisis was narrated to justify a series of planning reforms in New South Wales between 2023 and 2025. Drawing on analysis of media coverage and press releases, we trace five interconnected narratives that shaped housing policy and planning reform debates: (i) Defining the crisis: housing affordability and intergenerational inequality; (ii) The root cause: housing supply; (iii) Apportioning blame: the planning system; (iv) Solving the crisis I: unlocking supply with planning reform; and (v) Solving the crisis II: meeting housing targets. Through a narrative approach, we illustrate how these framings operated to simplify complex housing system dynamics, construct causal logics, and legitimise rapid procedural and regulatory reforms. We demonstrate how a crisis narrative centred on affordability pressures facing young people was mobilised by government and industry to justify three planning system reforms introduced during this period: the Transit-Oriented Development Program, the Housing Delivery Authority, and Low and Midrise Housing Policy. We argue that narrative dynamics are central to understanding how housing crises are constructed and how policy reforms are implemented.
Norwegians are the most indebted population on the planet, and their indebtedness is largely driven by homeownership. We examine the historical trajectories of housing finance in Norway and its relation to the ideological apparatus of the state. We argue that by disciplining the population into 'good' debtors, the post-war social democratic state established the foundation for the centrality of debt in Norwegianness. Additionally, we contend that indebtedness plays a crucial role in social integration. The deregulation of housing and credit in the 1980s is examined as a breach of the social contract, undermining a fundamental pillar of the welfare system and eroding the right to housing. The increase in housing prices and household debt since that time has contributed to social inequality. However, by mediating the relationship between individuals and the state through banks and the 'free market', this is perceived as rational and objective conditions for competition. We then proceed to question what forms of subjectivity are accessible to those who reject debt, particularly by exploring the experiences of debt and homeownership within the Somali-Norwegian community, where the refusal of interest-based lending is prevalent due to moral prohibitions on interest, alongside experiences of systemic exclusion by banks.
Collaborative housing (CH) initiatives, which aim for decommodified and affordable homes, are growing across European cities. This research addresses the lack of systematic analysis on the limits to the growth and upscaling of such initiatives. Taking Barcelona as a paradigmatic case, the study analyses constraints to the expansion of the grant of use cooperative housing model, which became official public policy after 2015. Data were collected via 16 interviews (December 2019-February 2020). Critically, the study investigates the limits that arose despite strong political support from the progressive city council between 2015 and 2019. The paper proposes a three-fold framework to scrutinise these obstacles. Constraints include the lack of sufficient public land and credit (material constraints), which led to a diffuse network with conflicting rationales (narrative constraints). Simultaneously, reliance on state-citizen partnerships generated unmet expectations and risky dependencies (governance constraints). This nuanced analysis accounts for tensions between the state, intermediaries, and residents, pointing towards more critically aware efforts for CH expansion.
This study examines the governance of housing policy in Qatar, a hydrocarbon-rich rentier state, through the analytical lens of the Policy Arrangements Approach (PAA). Although scholars have applied the PAA extensively in Western democracies, its utility for analysing non-Western, resource-dependent polities remains underexplored. Drawing on 24 semi-structured interviews with government officials, real estate developers, academics, and civil society representatives, supplemented by document analysis and a systematic literature review, the investigation assesses whether housing policy arrangements in Qatar have evolved beyond centralised, state-directed configurations. The findings reveal a resilient & eacute;tatist arrangement across all four PAA dimensions: discourse remains anchored in citizen-centric welfare narratives; actor networks are dominated by state institutions; resource allocation operates through land grants and subsidised lending restricted to nationals; and formal rules exhibit path dependency grounded in foundational welfare legislation. Nevertheless, the analysis identifies selective discursive adaptation through which global norms around sustainability and urban modernisation are absorbed within & eacute;tatist logics rather than displacing them. The study contributes to theoretical debates on institutional resilience in non-Western welfare states by proposing the concept of performative & eacute;tatism, wherein the state enacts symbolic responsiveness to international pressures while preserving the structural foundations of centralised governance. Through the lens of institutional layering, the analysis demonstrates that surface-level policy innovations coexist with durable institutional cores, a pattern that the existing PAA literature has not adequately theorised for rentier contexts. The findings extend the geographic scope of the PAA framework and offer transferable insights for scholars examining housing governance in resource-dependent economies.
This paper examines the impact of renovations in the rental sector on tenants' relocation patterns in Sweden between 1995 and 2019. The study's aim is to explore and analyse individuals' likelihood of relocation surrounding the years of renovation. We use register data to address the two questions: Are low-income households more prone to relocate when their building undergoes renovation? Are tenants in the private rental sector more likely to relocate during renovations? The findings indicate that tenants tend to relocate around the time of a renovation. However, it is not low-income individuals who tend to relocate; rather, they remain in place, which may indicate displacement lock-in, in which disadvantaged households are unable to relocate due to housing shortages and limited opportunities. The study also reveals that tenants in the private rental sector are more likely to relocate than those in the public rental sector, possibly reflecting different renovation strategies employed by these actors. Overall, the study contributes to the discussion on whether renovations lead to renoviction and displacement within a Swedish context.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are deeply connected to the lands, seas and skies across the settler-colonial state of Australia. They take strength from ongoing connection to culture, spirituality and community. Colonisation impacts these life-giving connections through the dispossession of peoples from Country and disconnection from community and culture. These ongoing colonial processes negatively impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's access to quality housing and are the source of housing precarity. Housing research often portrays Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's housing experiences within deficit discourse. Deficit discourse causes harm in its problematisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are reduced to characterisations such as 'the Indigenous housing problem'. Strengths-based discourse, now regularly applied in health, can address this harm by centring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's cultures, knowledges and priorities, and appropriately contextualising experiences within settler colonialism. Aboriginal health researchers have for two decades pushed for strengths-based discourse, leading to shifts in health policy, such as the call to eradicate systemic racism. There is an opportunity to similarly flip the script in housing research to centre Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's existing strengths, capabilities and community-led housing solutions and positively influence housing policy.
This study examines spatial and temporal patterns of Private Rental Sector (PRS) growth and its associations with socioeconomic residential segregation across Swedish municipalities from 1994 to 2019. Drawing on administrative register data and an Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis framework, including dissimilarity indices, bivariate choropleth maps, and correlation analysis, the study situates PRS growth as a form of rental housing financialisation that structurally transforms the rental sector and shapes the socio-spatial sorting of residents. The key contribution is the identification of a clear urban-rural divide in how PRS growth relates to socioeconomic residential segregation. In less urban municipalities (small towns, rural municipalities, and commuting munic-ipalities near small towns), PRS growth correlates positively with increased seg-regation, pointing to residualisation in a shrinking public rental sector. In more urban municipalities (large cities and medium-sized towns), the relationship is reversed: PRS growth is negatively associated with segregation, explained by either housing market tightness and 'locked-in' dynamics, or resilient housing system characteristics. These findings highlight the variegated, context-dependent nature of financialised housing processes. The study contributes to debates on housing universalism and the geography of financialisation within welfare states, with policy implications for Sweden's decentralised housing system.
English social housing occupies a fraught space between market logics, regulatory demands, and a care-based ethos. This paper examines the adoption of behavioural segmentation, a marketing-derived tool increasingly used to improve communication and reduce stigma in tenant-social landlord relations. Rather than reflecting rational policy innovation, the paper argues that segmentation is shaped by institutional flows of envy, care, and control. Drawing on empirical research with practitioners and tenants, it explores how segmentation exacerbates epistemic injustice, undermining trust instead of enhancing it. The paper contributes theoretically by bringing Fricker's epistemic injustice into dialogue with Deleuze and Guattari's desiring-machines. Desire is reconceptualised as organisational flows rather than individual longing, helping to explain how segmentation emerges through irrational processes rather than deliberative intent. This synthesis surfaces the less than rational embedded in datafication practices, exposing their abstraction from material realities and an over-reliance on individualised behavioural correction. Rather than rejecting data analytics outright, the paper proposes storytelling analytics within an action research framework. This alternative invites tenants as co-analysts, challenging siloed organisational knowledge production. While grounded in England, the paper speaks to wider debates on datafication, social housing, and justice, calling for forms of relational governance that restore trust and collective capacity.
Pet ownership, or animal companionship, is increasingly found to be beneficial to mental and physical well-being. Despite this, housing situations and tenure, such as living in a private rental, can impact the ability to realise these benefits. This paper examines the financial implications for private landlords when renting to pet-owning tenants in the UK. We conduct a rapid evidence assessment to identify costs and benefits associated with pet-friendly renting. Drawing on this framework, we use two cross-sectional surveys of private landlords (n = 2,115) and private renters (n = 1,016) to quantify key costs parameters (e.g., pet-related damage) and benefit parameters (e.g., longer tenancies). These empirical estimates are used to parameterise a cost-benefit analysis model from the landlords' perspective over a 12-year holding period. We find that pet-friendly rental policies can yield a positive net present value, benefiting landlords financially over the long term. Moreover, evidence suggests that pets can improve tenant well-being and community connections, potentially fostering positive landlord-tenant relationships. Our sensitivity analysis indicates that the financial viability of renting to pet owners is robust across various scenarios. Overall, the findings aim to inform policymakers and, crucially, landlords about the social and financial benefits of supporting pet ownership in the private rented sector.
