I cannot afford to live alone in this city and I enjoy the company of others: why people are share housing in Sydney

ABSTRACT

Share housing is changing. Once considered a form of short-term housing and a lifestyle choice for young adults fresh out of the family home, share housing is increasingly playing a broader role into advanced adulthood. Recent work has claimed the emergence of Generation Rent; however, the reconfiguration of housing experiences is illustrated not only by renting but also by an increase in house sharing and the emergence of ‘Generation Share’ within the renting cohort. We know surprisingly little about share housing and its increasingly important role in housing. This paper draws upon exploratory research conducted on share housing in Sydney, Australia, and argues that share housing as traditionally understood is changing. Share housing has a widening demographic and it is driven primarily by economic factors. Despite this, the social affordances offered by share housing are highly valued. Share housing therefore offers us a unique lens into changing housing pathways and values and provokes us to think of ways to produce more socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable housing.

KEYWORDS:

• Share housing
• housing
• affordable housing

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Ian Buchanan Fell Trust and the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney, for funding this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ian Buchanan Fell Trust and the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney.