Definition of Housing

Definition of Housing

• Housing is fundamental to human life and is key in delivering healthy and attractive communities by defining the life space for individuals.
• Appropriate shelter allows individuals to meet their basic needs and participate adequately in society.
• Housing provides security, privacy, neighborhood, social relations, and status.
• Housing is a crucial setting for social relations and is strongly affected by all aspects of life, wielding influences on them as well.
• A statement by Stretton (1976), indicates that more than half of waking hours are spent at or near home.
• More than a third of capital is invested in homes and more than a third of work is done there.
• High proportions of goods are produced and enjoyed at home and over three-quarters of subsistence, social life, leisure, and recreation happen there.
• People are "produced" and endowed with values that determine the quality of their social life and government away from home.
• Being ill-housed can lead to deprivation along any of life's vital issues.
• Inadequate housing is linked to homelessness, poverty, crime, unrest, unemployment, educational deprivation, and ill health.
• Housing is a central problem amidst challenges of urbanization and urban growth and is intertwined with the management of the wider economy and urban public services.
• Throughout history, the need for shelter has been a basic human necessity.
• Being housed can be a climatic condition modifier, a symbol of affluence and wealth for family groups.
• Assessing the range and qualities of housing can be complex.
• Housing has strong links with other life aspects and is complex and multifaceted.
• Proximity to jobs, social infrastructure, efficient services, and healthy environments gives housing its value in both developed and developing countries.
• Housing problems range from shelter deprivation to experiencing single barriers to adequate housing.
• Problems related to housing include affordability, ability to secure shelter, lack of services, disturbing environments, and deterioration of residential spaces.
• Housing is a complex physical, financial, legal, and social composition.
• Housing involves more than just occupying a dwelling, it encompasses use and physical standards.
• Housing is a complex phenomenon due to variable elements, multiple agents, conflicting forces, various interests/viewpoints, and its representation in people's minds.
• Housing influences and is influenced by almost everything in life for individuals and groups (community).
• Housing provides the space and environment to meet a variety of needs.
• Housing provides rooms and facilities for activities such as eating, cooking, sleeping, and washing.
• Housing accommodates activities like working, entertaining, playing, and caring for children and is a service container where daily activities occur.
• Housing is a place for socializing.
• Housing is an aspect of a variety of school subjects, often addressing political controversies related to its provision.
• The housing concept can be fragmented affecting several factors.
• Physical built forms are associated with architectural design.
• The urban presence of housing estates is ascribed to planning.
• Providing housing and setting standards are political/administrative issues handled by local government and ministries.
• Housing development is expected from the building industry and mortgage systems are the money markets' and finance ministries' responsibility.
• Homeownership and tenure forms are delegated to market forces.
• Homelessness is often addressed by charities, with the government expected to assist.
• Environmental health sociology addresses hygiene and health aspects of housing & criminal occurrences are investigated by the police and criminologists.

Housing Terminology

• Consider the terms: House, Residence, Dwelling, Habitat, Lodge, and Home.

House

• Originates from the Old English 'Hus' meaning "dwelling, shelter, home, house."
• It is defined as a building or shelter for people or animals.
• Any thing that provides cover, protection, or support.
• A shelter or refuge.

Residence

• The location, especially a house, where a person lives or resides.
• A dwelling place and a structure serving as a dwelling or home, especially one of large proportion and superior quality.

Dwelling

• A building or place of shelter to live in, a place of residence or abode and the verb 'Dwell' means to live or stay as a permanent resident and to live or continue in a given condition or state.

Habitat

• Originating from Latin it means from habitāre to dwell, from habēre to have.
• A special environment for living in over an extended period.
• It is the natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism, or the place where a person or thing is usually found.

Lodge

• A small, makeshift, or crude shelter or habitation and a house used as a temporary residence.

Home

• A house, apartment, or shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.
• The place or region where something is native or most common.
• A place in which one's domestic affections, care, and love are centered.
• A dwelling place or retreat of an animal.
• A person's native place or own country.
• A principal base of operations or activities.

Housing Needs and Preferences

• Environments should provide and consider human needs and preferences because housing itself is a need that fulfills needs and includes basic and general aspects.
• Shelter is among the basic human needs, according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Basic Needs

• Shelter: Protection from weather and surrounding threats.
• Privacy: A basic need to interact with others utilizing separate spaces (socially/physically) while considering the number of people and activities.
• Ownership: A degree of psychological comfort with security and control.
• Accessibility: Freedom between work and home, public facilities, and commercial settings for daily life.

General Needs

• Space to move, rest, and sleep is crucial for maintaining physical health.
• Security and safety are important for well-being.
• Social interaction and belonging are needed to feel positive about oneself.

Housing Preferences

• These are personal and socio-psychological and are usually constrained/limited by external factors.
• Housing preferences change with the housing market, housing policies, economic restraints, neighborhood locations and ownership.

Physiological Exigencies (Body Needs)

• Need for sleep
• Need for rest-relaxation-entertainment
• Need for food (preparation, serving, storing)
• Need for bodily care (food and body hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, etc.)
• Need for physical comfort (breathing, warmth, visibility, mobility, etc.)

Psycho-Social Exigencies (Relational Needs)

• Need for privacy
• Need for sociability (friendship and cooperation)
• Need for relationships and raising children and caring for people
• Need for informal, creative, and secondary activities
• Need for play and entertainment
• Need for contacts outside the household
• Need for aesthetic experience and attractiveness of living space
• Need to adapt the dwelling to the dynamics of the family structure, physiological exigencies, and psychosocial exigencies.

House vs. Home

• A distinction exists between 'house' and 'home'.
• A house provides physical shelter and is a 'machine for living in' as perceived by policymakers focused on the dwelling's physical fabric.
• A house is the setting for social practices and is called 'life home', it is an important setting for emotional and behaviors.
• Houses carry meanings which influence the use and physical construction.
• A house is an object, part of the environment, whereas a home is a relationship between people and their environment that is emotionally based and meaningful.
• The relationship between dwellers and houses is influenced in the setting of the house by social constructions of appropriate behavior.
• Home and Family concepts are related and often combined into a picture of normative lifestyle.
• Home is defined as a place to feel comfortable, at ease, and relaxed, unlike a house.
• Homes are the place for social practices and the most intimate moments, these are labeled as family life.
• Home is the setting for intimate relationships and feelings.
• The house's physical nature influences the meanings people associate with it, impacting their concept of the home and social interactions.
• Hayward (1977) described home as family, social networks, self-identity, privacy, continuity, personalisation, behaviour, the dwelling and the childhood home. Lawrence (1987) suggests that the concept of home is based on cultural, socio-demographic, social, and psychological dimensions.

Elements of Home

• Somerville (1992) categorized the meaning of home into:
  • Shelter.
  • Hearth (physical warmth).
  • Heart (loving and affectionate relationships).
  • Privacy (power to exclude/prohibit).
  • Abode (place to call home)
  • Roots (individual's source of identity).
• Hayward (1977) includes family, social networks, self-identity, privacy, continuity, personalisation, behaviour, the dwelling and the childhood home.

Qualities of Home

• Tognoli (1987) posited five attributes that differentiate a home from a house:
  • Centrality: Owners expect relative permanence, exclusive control, and use, making it a primary territory and a physical center for departure and return.
  • Continuity: Having a destination to return to creates the feeling of belonging, and a continuity in life.
  • Privacy: Feelings of refuge are central and the home offers control of social interactions and access,
  • Self-Expression & Personal Identity: Symbolize how residents see themselves and how they want others to view them.
  • Social Relationships: Functioning as the center of a spatial-social network, it occupies a place in their social interactions.

The House as Home

• Differing from the house as a system and relates to the relationships within a household and with their environment.
• A house becomes a home through a process of personalization.