Re-conceptualising the Right to Housing: Ethnographic research on new housing initiatives in Brussels and Antwerp

Based on the increasing commodification of the social housing market and the consequences this has carried for the affordability and security of housing for underprivileged residents, the wider research project this PhD is embedded in intends to (1) study the extent to which the right to housing for underprivileged residents is reclaimed in new housing strategies and through social housing activism as well as (2) the extent to which this right is guaranteed in the myriad of bottom-up housing initiatives which have emerged to cope with the ongoing housing crisis. The wider aim of this research project consists of reconceptualising the right to housing given the emergence of new housing solutions outside of public housing provisioning. Furthermore, given a predominant focus on either the macro (national or regional housing policy) or micro (individual housing project) level in housing research, this project aims to study the right to housing from both a personal and neighbourhood level. To this end this PhD project will focus on the collection of qualitative, ethnographic data on existing social housing and newly developing alternatives thereof in two neighbourhoods which have been selected based on a number of established criteria: Cureghem (in Brussels) and Merksem (in Antwerp). 3 to 5 housing initiatives and projects in each neighbourhood will serve as case studies for this research. For each of these case studies in-depth interviews will be conducted with residents of public social housing or social housing alternatives, neighbours of the housing projects, local housing activists and initiators of new housing projects aside from field and/or participant observations. The focus will hereby lie on personal perception of housing (in)security, participation in housing and neighbourhood activities and personal engagement with the management of the house. The combination of the personal and neighbourhood perspective further allows to understand the role of housing commons in ensuring the right to housing.