The meaning of home among disadvantaged renting families: Lessons for social work practice amidst the affordable housing crisis

In recent years, amid a global affordable housing crisis, there has been growing scholarly and political interest in the problem of housing insecurity among poor families. Although housing is one of the key forms of disadvantage affecting those who engage with social services, the profession of social work has given only scant attention to this pressing issue. Guided by theories of home as an ongoing political process, this study advances the understanding of the lived experiences of housing insecurity by investigating the overlooked meanings that low-income renting families ascribe to home in the face of precarious housing conditions. To do so, it draws on 100 interviews with diverse impoverished families in Israel. The findings reveal five constructions of home: an alienated place; emotional turmoil; parental commitment; a site of compromises; and institutional neglect. Our study illustrates that while housing insecurity profoundly impairs their notion of home, poor families nonetheless actively frame home as a multifront struggle. We argue that, in doing so, families challenge hegemonic understandings of impoverishment and housing inequality. We apply these findings to social work practice, proposing a home-centered social work approach that recognizes the problem of housing insecurity and underscores people’s understandings of home.