An exploratory study of house-sitting and ‘home’-making among older people

IF 1.8 2区社会学 Q2 GEOGRAPHY

Australian Geographer Pub Date : 2021-10-02 DOI:10.1080/00049182.2021.1999612

S. Alidoust, Fahimeh Khalaj

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT The growing housing unaffordability is forcing people to take on unconventional pathways and experiment with alternate means of ‘home’-making. This research explores opportunities for making ‘home’ that emerge from practices of house-sitting among older people, particularly those with no permanent housing. Findings from semi-structured interviews suggest that house-sitting is an affordable shelter that provides rent-free accommodation for older people experiencing financial insecurity and increases their capacity for care-related expenditure. However, it is not a viable option in the long term, due to the unstable and insecure nature of house-sitting and the increasing health issues of people as they age. Our findings stress that the meaning of home is multifaceted and complex. While ‘home’ can still be perceived as a source of ontological security by many, it is observed as a ‘nomadic’ and ‘fluid’ concept that could change over time/space, mainly by people that have chosen or were forced to house-sit on a full-time basis. The findings of this research can shed light on house-sitting, as a growing house-sharing model that is largely under-researched and informs housing policy-makers and researchers.

查看原文本刊更多论文

一项关于老年人看家和“造家”的探索性研究

摘要日益严重的住房负担能力迫使人们走上非传统的道路，尝试其他的“造房子”方式。这项研究探索了老年人，特别是那些没有永久住房的老年人，在居家实践中创造“家”的机会。半结构化访谈的结果表明，家庭护理是一种负担得起的住所，为经济不安全的老年人提供免租住宿，并提高他们的护理相关支出能力。然而，从长远来看，这不是一个可行的选择，因为居家办公的不稳定和不安全性质，以及随着年龄的增长，人们的健康问题越来越严重。我们的研究结果强调，家的意义是多方面和复杂的。虽然“家”仍然可以被许多人视为本体论安全的来源，但它被视为一个“游牧”和“流动”的概念，可能会随着时间/空间的变化而变化，主要是那些选择或被迫全职居住的人。这项研究的发现可以揭示房屋出租，这是一种不断发展的房屋共享模式，在很大程度上研究不足，并为住房政策制定者和研究人员提供信息。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Australian Geographer GEOGRAPHY-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

8.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Australian Geographer was founded in 1928 and is the nation"s oldest geographical journal. It is a high standard, refereed general geography journal covering all aspects of the discipline, both human and physical. While papers concerning any aspect of geography are considered for publication, the journal focuses primarily on two areas of research: •Australia and its world region, including developments, issues and policies in Australia, the western Pacific, the Indian Ocean, Asia and Antarctica. •Environmental studies, particularly the biophysical environment and human interaction with it.