Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T18:59:06.068Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mobility-based disadvantage in older age: insecure housing and the risks of moving house

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2020

Emma R. Power Open the ORCID record for Emma R. Power [Opens in a new window]
Emma R. Power*
Affiliation:
Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia
*
*Email: e.power@westernsydney.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper develops knowledge of the logistics of moving house amongst older people living in insecure housing. These people typically do not move once and settle into a new house, but face ongoing moves driven by factors including housing affordability, tenure conditions and eviction. The paper identifies four domains of experience faced by people undergoing cumulative, involuntary residential moves: the material (process of relocating oneself and possessions), economic (costs of moving house), embodied (physical experience) and affective (how relocation is experienced and felt). The logistics of relocation are examined through the experiences of single older women living in insecure housing in the greater Sydney region of Australia. The accounts of these women foreground the costs and challenges of insecure housing that are a consequence of relocation. Conceptually this work contributes to understandings of mobility-based disadvantage in older age through drawing out the ways that the logistics of moving house – of relocating oneself and possessions – contribute in distinct ways to mobility-based disadvantage through risks to identity and senses of home. Empirically it addresses gaps in gerontological and housing scholarship through developing knowledge of the logistics and experiences of ongoing, involuntary residential moves.

Keywords

moving houseageinghomerelocationmobility-based disadvantagecosts
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , January 2022 , pp. 89 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramsson, M and Andersson, EK (2012) Residential mobility patterns of elderly – leaving the house for an apartment. Housing Studies 27, 582–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adair, T, Williams, R and Menyen, T (2014) Downsizing Decisions of Senior Australians: What Are the Motivating and Discouraging Factors? National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Age, UK (2016) Ageing in Squalor and Distress: Older People in the Private Rented Sector. London: Age UK.Google Scholar
Arthur, S, Christie, A and Mitchell, R (2018) Unsuitable, Insecure and Substandard Homes: The Barriers Faced by Older Private Renters. Independent Age, London.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) 4130.0 – Housing Occupancy and Costs, 2013–14. Available at https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4130.0~2013-14~Main%20Features~Housing%20Mobility~10003.Google Scholar
Bate, B (2017) Understanding the influence tenure has on meanings of home and homemaking practices. Geography Compass 12, e12354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blunt, A and Dowling, R (2006) Home. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203401354CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byles, J, Curryer, C, Vo, K, Forder, P, Loxton, D and McLaughlin, D (2018) Changes in housing among older women: latent class analysis of housing patterns in older Australian women. Urban Studies 55, 917–934.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, B, Morbey, H, Balogh, R and Araoz, G (2009) Flooded homes, broken bonds, the meaning of home, psychological processes and their impact on psychological health in a disaster. Health & Place 15, 540–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castle, NG (2001) Relocation of the elderly. Medical Care Research and Review 58, 291–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clapham, D (2002) Housing pathways: a post modern analytical framework. Housing, Theory and Society 19, 57–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colic-Peisker, V, Ong, R and Wood, G (2015) Asset poverty, precarious housing and ontological security in older age: an Australian case study. International Journal of Housing Policy 15, 167–186.10.1080/14616718.2014.984827CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, G, Thompson, J and Reed, J (2015) Re-conceptualising the status of residents in a care home: older people wanting to ‘live with care’. Ageing & Society 35, 1587–1613.10.1017/S0144686X14000397CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooney, A (2012) ‘Finding home’: a grounded theory on how older people ‘find home’ in long-term care settings. International Journal of Older People Nursing 7, 188–199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa-Font, J, Elvira, D and Mascarilla-Miró, O (2009) ‘Ageing in place’? Exploring elderly people's housing preferences in Spain. Urban Studies 46, 295–316.10.1177/0042098008099356CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cristoforetti, A, Gennai, F and Rodeschini, G (2011) Home sweet home: the emotional construction of places. Journal of Aging Studies 25, 225–232.10.1016/j.jaging.2011.03.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danermark, B and Ekstrom, M (1990) Relocation and health effects on the elderly: a commented research review. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 25, 25–49.Google Scholar
Davidson, P, Saunders, P, Bradbury, B and Wong, M (2018) Poverty in Australia 2018. ACOSS and UNSW, Sydney.Google Scholar
Depres, C and Lord, S (2005) Growing older in postwar suburbs: the meanings and experiences of home. In Rowles, GD and Chaudhury, H (eds), Home and Identity in Late Life: International Perspectives. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 317–340.Google Scholar
Doling, J and Ronald, R (2010) Home ownership and asset-based welfare. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 25, 165–173.10.1007/s10901-009-9177-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dufty-Jones, R (2012) Moving home: theorizing housing within a politics of mobility. Housing, Theory and Society 29, 207–222.10.1080/14036096.2011.641262CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easthope, H (2004) A place called home. Housing, Theory and Society 21, 128–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekerdt, DJ, Sergeant, JF, Bowen, ME and Dingel, M (2004) Household disbandment in later life. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 59B, S265–S273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekerdt, DJ, Luborsky, M and Lysack, C (2012) Safe passage of goods and self during residential relocation in later life. Ageing & Society 32, 833–850.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erickson, MA, Krout, J, Ewen, H and Robison, J (2006) Should I stay or should I go? Journal of Housing for the Elderly 20, 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewen, H and Chahal, J (2013) Influence of late life stressors on the decisions of older women to relocate into congregate senior housing. Journal of Housing for the Elderly 27, 392–408.10.1080/02763893.2013.813428CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grant, BC (2004) A new sense of self and a new lease of life: leisure in a retirement village. Annals of Leisure Research 7, 222–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grenier, A, Phillipson, C, Laliberte Rudman, D, Hatzifilalithis, S, Kobayashi, K and Marier, P (2017) Precarity in late life: understanding new forms of risk and insecurity. Journal of Aging Studies 43, 9–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Groger, L (1995) A nursing home can be a home. Journal of Aging Studies 9, 137–153.10.1016/0890-4065(95)90008-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, EB and Gottschalk, G (2006) What makes older people consider moving house and what makes them move? Housing, Theory and Society 23, 34–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Homelessness NSW (2016) A Plan for Change: Homes for Older Women. Available at https://www.homelessnessnsw.org.au/sites/homelessnessnsw/files/2016-12/Older_Women_Booklet_Web_Version.pdf.Google Scholar
Hulse, K and Saugeres, L (2008) Housing Insecurity and Precarious Living: An Australian Exploration (Final Report No. 124). Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.Google Scholar
Hulse, K, Milligan, V and Easthope, H (2011) Secure Occupancy in Rental Housing: Conceptual Foundations and Comparative Perspectives (AHURI Final Report No. 170). Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.Google Scholar
Hulse, K, Burke, T, Ralston, L and Stone, W (2012) The Australian private rental sector: changes and challenges. Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne, AHURI Positioning Paper 149.Google Scholar
Iwarsson, S, Wahl, H-W, Nygren, C, Oswald, F, Sixsmith, A, Sixsmith, J, Széman, Z and Tomsone, S (2007) Importance of the home environment for healthy aging: conceptual and methodological background of the European ENABLE–AGE Project. The Gerontologist 47, 78–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Izuhara, M and Heywood, F (2003) A life-time of inequality: a structural analysis of housing careers and issues facing older private tenants. Ageing & Society 23, 207–224.10.1017/S0144686X02001125CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (2013) America's Rental Housing: Evolving Markets and Needs. Available at http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/jchs.harvard.edu/files/jchs_americas_rental_housing_2013_1_0.pdf.Google Scholar
Judd, B, Edgar, L, Easthope, H, Davy, L and Bridge, C (2014) Downsizing Amongst Older Australians (AHURI Final Report No. 124). Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.Google Scholar
Lain, D, Airey, L, Loretto, W and Vickerstaff, S (2019) Understanding older worker precarity: the intersecting domains of jobs, households and the welfare state. Ageing & Society 39, 2219–2241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackenzie, L, Curryer, C and Byles, JE (2015) Narratives of home and place: findings from the Housing and Independent Living Study. Ageing & Society 35, 1684–1712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcoux, J-S (2001 a) The ‘casser maison’ ritual: constructing the self by emptying the home. Journal of Material Culture 6, 213–235.10.1177/135918350100600205CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcoux, J-S (2001 b) The refurbishment of memory. In Miller, Daniel, Home Possessions: Material Culture Behind Closed Doors. New York, NY: Berg, pp. 69–85 .Google Scholar
Morris, A (2016) The Australian Dream: Housing Experiences of Older Australians. Clayton South, Australia: CSIRO Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nordvik, V (2001) Moving costs and the dynamics of housing demand. Urban Studies 38, 519–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Office for National Statistics (2013) A Century of Home Ownership and Renting in England and Wales. Available at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census-analysis/a-century-of-home-ownership-and-renting-in-england-and-wales/short-story-on-housing.html.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics (2019) UK Private Rented Sector: 2018. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/ukprivaterentedsector/2018.Google Scholar
Oldman, C (1991) Financial effects of moving in old age. Housing Studies 6, 251–262.10.1080/02673039108720713CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ong, R, Wood, G and Colic-Peisker, V (2015) Housing older Australians: loss of homeownership and pathways into housing assistance. Urban Studies 52, 2979–3000.10.1177/0042098014550955CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Shea, E and Walsh, K (2013) Transforming long-stay care in Ireland. In Rowles, GD and Bernard, M (eds), Environmental Gerontology: Making Meaningful Places in Old Age. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 125–151.Google Scholar
Oswald, F and Wahl, H-W (2013) Creating and sustaining homelike places in residential environments. In Rowles, GD and Bernard, M (eds), Environmental Gerontology: Making Meaningful Places in Old Age. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 53-77.Google Scholar
Paton, H and Cram, F (1992) Personal possessions and environmental control: the experiences of elderly women in three residential settings. Journal of Women and Aging 4, 61-78.10.1300/J074v04n02_06CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, M (2015) Addressing older women's homelessness: service and housing models. Australian Journal of Social Issues 50, 419–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, M and Parsell, C (2015) Homeless for the first time in later life: an Australian study. Housing Studies 30, 368–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pope, ND and Kang, B (2010) Residential relocation in later life: a comparison of proactive and reactive moves. Journal of Housing for the Elderly 24, 193–207.10.1080/02763891003757122CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, ER (2017 a) Housing, home ownership and the governance of ageing. The Geographical Journal 183, 233–246.10.1111/geoj.12213CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, ER (2017 b) Renting with pets: a pathway to housing insecurity? Housing Studies 32, 336–360.10.1080/02673037.2016.1210095CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, ER (2019) Assembling the capacity to care: caring-with precarious housing. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 44, 763–777.10.1111/tran.12306CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Productivity Commission (2019) Vulnerable Private Renters: Evidence and Options. Productivity Commission, Canberra.Google Scholar
Rowles, GD and Bernard, M (2013) The meaning and significance of place in old age. In Rowles, GD and Bernard, M (eds), Environmental Gerontology: Making Meaningful Places in Old Age. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 3–24.Google Scholar
Rowley, S, Leishman, C, Baker, E, Bentley, R and Lester, L (2017) Modelling Housing Need in Australia to 2025 (AHURI Final Report No. 287). Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.Google Scholar
Rubinstein, RL and de Meiros, K (2005) Home, self and identity. In Rowles, GD and Chaudhury, H (eds), Home and Identity in Late Life: International Perspectives. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 47–62.Google Scholar
Safran-Norton, CE (2010) Physical home environment as a determinant of aging in place for different types of elderly households. Journal of Housing for the Elderly 24, 208–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, A (2012) US housing policy in the age of Obama: from crisis to stasis. International Journal of Housing Policy 12, 227–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, AF (2015) Housing Policy in the United States. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Shenk, D, Kuwahara, K and Zablotsky, D (2004) Older women's attachments to their home and possessions. Journal of Aging Studies 18, 157–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherman, F and Dacher, J (2005) Cherished objects and the home: their meaning and roles in late life. In Rowles, GD and Chaudhury, H (eds), Home and Identity in Late Life: International Perspectives. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 63–79.Google Scholar
Simpson, M and Cheney, G (2007) Marketization, participation, and communication within New Zealand retirement villages: a critical–rhetorical and discursive analysis. Discourse & Communication 1, 191–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sixsmith, J, Sixsmith, A, Fänge, AM, Naumann, D, Kucsera, C, Tomsone, S, Haak, M, Dahlin-Ivanoff, S and Woolrych, R (2014) Healthy ageing and home: the perspectives of very old people in five European countries. Social Science & Medicine 106, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strauss, K (2018) Labour geography 1: Towards a geography of precarity? Progress in Human Geography 42, 622–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strohschein, L (2012) I want to move, but cannot: characteristics of involuntary stayers and associations with health among Canadian seniors. Journal of Aging and Health 24, 735–751.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
US Census Bureau (2013) Census Bureau Reports Rental Vacancy Rates Down Nationally. Available at http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/cb13-70.html.Google Scholar
Wiesel, I (2013) Mobilities of disadvantage: the housing pathways of low-income Australians. Urban Studies 51, 319–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiles, JL, Leibing, A, Guberman, N, Reeve, J and Allen, RES (2012) The meaning of ‘ageing in place’ to older people. The Gerontologist 52, 357-366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winstanley, A, Thorns, DC and Perkins, HC (2002) Moving house, creating home: exploring residential mobility. Housing Studies 17, 813–832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, G, Colic-Peisker, V, Berry, M and Ong, R (2010) Asset Poverty and Older Australians’ Transitions onto Housing Assistance Programs (AHURI Final Report No. 156). Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.Google Scholar
Wood, GA, Smith, SJ, Cigdem, M and Ong, R (2017) Life on the edge: a perspective on precarious home ownership in Australia and the UK. International Journal of Housing Policy. 17, 201-226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar