Housing and Family: An Introduction

Abstract

This paper introduces the Housing Studies special issue ‘Housing and Family’. The issue consists of a collection of papers in which a number of connections between housing and family issues are highlighted. Three themes are addressed: the influence of the family of origin on housing characteristics and housing situations; the links between household events and housing events at the micro level of households; and homeownership as a context for parenthood at the macro level of countries. It is concluded that family is as much a context for understanding housing needs and residential outcomes as housing is a context for understanding family events.

Keywords:

• Housing quality
• family
• homeownership
• fertility

Acknowledgement

Clara Mulder's research for this paper was made possible by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), VICI grant no. 453-04-001.