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Negotiating housing insecurity: Parenting in poverty and the struggle for home

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  • Feldman, Guy
  • Shwartz-Ziv, Tamar

Abstract

Among the arenas that reproduce inequality for marginalized groups, housing remains one of the most important. Guided by scholarship on housing insecurity among the poor and parenting amidst poverty, this article investigates the lived experience of parenting within the intricate landscape of housing insecurity. To do so, we draw on in-depth interviews with 100 low-income parents who rent a house in Israel. Our findings show that amidst severe housing challenges, parents constantly enact strong social agency by striving to secure decent housing for their children. Our analysis also reveals how three main facets of housing insecurity permeate and shape everyday parent–child relationships: overcrowded living conditions, economic tensions, and emotional and health challenges. We employ the concept of “negotiation” to offer a threefold conceptualization of our findings regarding parenting experience in the shadow of housing insecurity.

Suggested Citation

  • Feldman, Guy & Shwartz-Ziv, Tamar, 2024. "Negotiating housing insecurity: Parenting in poverty and the struggle for home," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:163:y:2024:i:c:s0190740924003529
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107780
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David Gómez-Quintero, Juan & García Martínez, Jesús & Maldonado, Lina, 2020. "Socioeconomic vulnerability and housing insecurity: A critical factor in child care in Spain," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    2. Ansell, Ben, 2014. "The Political Economy of Ownership: Housing Markets and the Welfare State," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(2), pages 383-402, May.
    3. Randy Albelda, 2011. "Time Binds: US Antipoverty Policies, Poverty, and the Well-Being of Single Mothers," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 189-214, October.
    4. Cooper, Kerris, 2021. "Are poor parents poor parents? The relationship between poverty and parenting among mothers in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104686, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Kathryn M. Leifheit & Gabriel L. Schwartz & Craig E. Pollack & Kathryn J. Edin & Maureen M. Black & Jacky M. Jennings & Keri N. Althoff, 2020. "Severe Housing Insecurity during Pregnancy: Association with Adverse Birth and Infant Outcomes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-12, November.
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