Severe housing deprivation: Addressing the social sustainability challenge in the EU

Nessa Winston and Patricia Kennedy
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Nessa Winston: School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin
Patricia Kennedy: IT Carlow

No 201903, Working Papers from Geary Institute, University College Dublin

Abstract: Severe housing deprivation is an important element of social sustainability. Social sustainability has been described as a concept in ‘chaos’ and of limited utility. This paper argues that meeting basic human needs is central to social sustainability and housing is a key dimension of need. It examines severe housing deprivation by analysing the extent to which households living in extreme poverty experience problems such as overcrowding, sub-standard dwelling quality and housing-related risks such as unaffordable housing and rent/mortgage arrears. The paper draws on data from the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions for this purpose. However, household surveys are somewhat limited in the extent to which they capture some groups living in ‘extreme poverty’. Therefore, we supplement these data with a case study of a particularly vulnerable group who experience housing exclusion in several relatively wealthy European countries - Roma in Ireland. The paper concludes with a discussion of strategies to address severe housing deprivation in the EU.

Keywords: Housing quality; housing affordability; Roma; social sustainability; poverty; deprivation; UN SDGs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2019-02-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hme, nep-ure and nep-war
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201903

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