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AbstractMany housing organizations are using social media to engage with a range of stakeholders including tenants. Tenant participation is being reworked in social media spaces as different (previously more separable) audiences are brought together in a digitalized ‘context collapse’. This multi-method study examines the emerging social media practices of housing organizations in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Datasets generated in 2015 and 2021 include two digital audits of housing providers’ social media use, and in-depth qualitative interviews and focus groups with 26 social housing representatives. Participants reported that three intersecting agendas shape their social media use: 1) tenant participation and engagement, 2) advocacy for social housing, and 3) marketing and promotion, which create challenges that housing organizations must navigate in digital spaces. As critical tenant perspectives can present a threat to organizational brand identity and reputation, organizational social media use/s can seek to weaken or hide tenant voices at a time when tenant rights are more important than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Place-based community networks provide a resource that can be drawn on to protect and promote the wellbeing of residents. We investigate the role of social networking sites (SNSs) in community formation in a new master-planned, mixed tenure, affordable housing estate in Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Waimahia Inlet was developed by a consortium of Māori organizations and community housing providers. Community formation was an explicit developer goal with public spaces to encourage face-to-face interaction designed into the development and social infrastructure nurtured on site. New residents were invited to join a closed Facebook group, created and moderated by a residents' association set up by the developer. In-depth interviews with 38 residents between 2017/18 revealed synergies between residents' use of online and offline interactional spaces for producing and performing an engaged and supportive community. Neighbourhood networks contributed to strengthened attachment to place and sense of security by residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines potentials for using the philosophies and practices of participatory action research (PAR) within the production of housing. Drawing on findings from a collaborative build project, working with a group in housing need in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, the paper explores the added social and educational value that processes of collaborative design and making can offer those that might be socially and spatially isolated. The paper argues that participation in housing is often colonized by those that have existing social, economic or knowledge capital and therefore bringing PAR into conversation with housing offers some unique opportunities, and also challenges, that other forms of collaborative housing may not. In assessing these opportunities the paper focuses on the mechanics of participation, including ethics, processes of learning through making, power, care and the potential for personal and collective transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly focuses on the determinants of housing and estate satisfaction in post-Second World War housing estates. Multi-level linear regression models were applied to estimate the impacts of individual, dwelling and estate characteristics on resident satisfaction levels, using a unique dataset from 25 post-Second World War estates in nine European countries. It is concluded that satisfaction with the dwelling is higher for the elderly and residents with higher incomes, and in situations where the dwelling has been renovated and is sufficiently large. The presence of children and a longer duration of stay have negative impacts, and renters are generally more negative than owners. Estate satisfaction is highest among immigrant households or when the dwelling is renovated, and among lower educated inhabitants. Individual characteristics and opinions on the estate are more important than estate characteristics in explaining estate satisfaction. The overall conclusion is that attempts to improve post-Second World War areas may result in new areas, but does not necessarily improve the overall satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between poor housing and poor health is widely accepted, but there is a lack of evidence on the health impact of housing interventions. In particular, evidence on mechanisms linking housing interventions to health is lacking. Scotland's Housing and Regeneration Project (SHARP) evaluated the health impacts of new-build social housing using a quasi-experimental survey design. Qualitative interviews were also conducted with a sub-sample of survey respondents. The qualitative data indicated that changes in dwelling type influenced key psychosocial processes such as control, with consequent impacts on well-being. This study provided insights into the psychosocial impacts of housing design, whilst also demonstrating the utility of qualitative methods for enhancing understanding of the mechanisms linking housing change with improved well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensions between individual liberty and collective social justice characterise many advanced liberal societies. These tensions are reflected in the challenges posed for representative democracy both by participatory democratic practices and by the current emphasis on (so-called) responsible participation. Based on the example of 'community' housing associations in Scotland, this paper explores these tensions. It is argued that the critique of responsibility may have been over-stated, that, in particular, 'community' housing associations offer the basis for relatively more inclusive and effective processes of decision making than council housing, which relies on the traditional processes and institutions of representative local government for its legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]