Sharing and caring: housing in times of precarity

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

“…In shared households, the struggles with the availability and division of space were felt varyingly (Blanc & Scanlon, 2022;Raynor & Frichot, 2022). Sharers were, on the one hand, already struggling with room sizes before the pandemic, as they often have more furniture and items in their bedrooms, reflecting the limited sharing of material goods and relative lack of space to spread their activities (Barratt & Green, 2017;Heath et al, 2018).…”

“…On the other hand, kitchens and living rooms have a particular significance as being the main 'shared' space in shared housing and sharers have less control over these spaces (Heath et al, 2018). Placing a workspace, which would 'privatise' the living room, was deemed potentially conflicting (Raynor & Frichot, 2022). Participants' accounts of working from home evidenced this tension.…”

Private renters in shared housing: investigating housing conditions and mental well-being in Australia during COVID-19

“…Shared housing has different forms, including friends living together, strangers cohabiting after connecting through online platforms, and housing cooperatives, and it is no longer a marginal living arrangement (Clark et al, 2017 ; Druta et al, 2021 ; Maalsen, 2019 ; Parkinson et al, 2021 ). There is growing literature that investigates how this pandemic has affected mental health for various groups, and a small body of research examines the specific pandemic experiences of people in shared housing (see Blanc & Scanlon Bradley, 2022 ; Buckle et al, 2022 ; Raynor & Frichot, 2022 ; Raynor & Panza, 2020 , 2021 ). Adding to this body of work, our paper focuses on the relationship between housing conditions and mental well-being for people living in shared housing.…”

“…COVID-19-related changes might blur the boundaries between home, work and leisure-related spaces for shared housing residents (Druta et al, 2021 ). Conversely, based on studies by Chen and Wang ( 2021 ), Szkody et al ( 2021 ) and Raynor and Frichot ( 2022 ), and given that lockdowns often prohibited people from seeing friends and family, shared housing may have alleviated loneliness if tenants experienced social interaction, care and support with their co-residents.…”

“…Blanc and Scanlon Bradley ( 2022 ), surveying people in shared housing in London, UK, found people struggled to create adequate work-from-home environments, and experienced increased challenges of living with other people. Raynor and Frichot ( 2022 ), drawing from interviews in Melbourne, Australia during lockdown, found that people living in share-houses enacted networks of care with their housemates, but also experienced challenges within the household and when engaging with property managers and government support. It is this burgeoning body of work on shared housing and COVID-19 to which we contribute.…”