Homeownership is a key component of the ‘good life’ and the Great Australian Dream.
https://tinyhousegiantjourney.com/blog/
However, many economic recessions and housing crises have made property ownership and investment increasingly inaccessible. The government and lifestyle media work to shift the concept of home ownership through neoliberal citizenship and ideas of the ‘good life.’ Neoliberal citizenship is when the responsibilities, rights, and actions are passed to citizens whilst the social responsibility of the state is simultaneously reduced (Zhang, 2021, p. 1408).
Nevertheless, to find solutions to the housing crisis, governments problematize people to reconfigure the problem as an individual responsibility (Dufty-Jones, 2018, p. 6). This is evident through cultural narratives of the ‘good life’ which tell the story of the Great Australian Dream (Penfold et al., 2018, p. 164). The Great Australian Dream is the belief that property investment and owning a home can lead to a better life through the promise of success and financial security. Thus, the issue with neoliberal citizenship is it allows the blame to be shifted away from the state’s failure to provide adequate housing and towards the individual instead (Zhang, 2021, p. 1409). Therefore, whilst homeownership remains inaccessible to citizens, property investment continues to be positioned as a requirement to live the ‘good life’ through appealing to neoliberal citizenship.
Furthermore, journalism headlines further romanticize and misrepresent tiny house living. Online media and journalistic taglines portray tiny homes as a solution to ameliorate the debt crisis of homeownership through several promises. Many individuals were enticed toward the tiny house lifestyle due to the promise of financial security, self-sufficiency, and accessibility. For example, the journalistic headline “women finds herself homeless and divorces but her comeback is epic” negates the complex realities of tiny house living (Anson, 2014, p. 291). Although this type of journalism may be well-meaning it suggests that being homeless and divorced does not meet society’s standards and is atypical. Therefore, the journalistic taglines exemplify the tension between the self-reliant individualism and communal aspects involved in tiny house construction (Anson, 2014, p. 291). Therefore, the portrayal of tiny house living through media and journalism is often romanticized and misrepresented.
Therefore, this blog is a critique of the idealistic aspects of tiny home living (i.e., financial security and autonomy). An example explored in this blog is that the tiny house lifestyle is not as affordable and accessible as the lifestyle media portray. Therefore, those who aspire to homeownership should be careful about how the media portrays tiny homes as a solution to the housing crisis. Nevertheless, tiny homes have the radical potential to increase the availability of affordable housing options for those currently neglected by the market. To reach its radical potential, Anson (2014) asserts there needs to be an acknowledgement and strive towards minimizing the privileges undergirding the tiny house lifestyle (p. 308). The aim should be to increase the supply of low-cost housing accessibility, rather than making homeownership seem more affordable through romanticized media. However, I’m curious about what you think the solution to this dilemma is. Feel free to comment your thoughts below.
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References
Anson, A. (2014). “The world is my backyard”: Romanticization, thoreauvian rhetoric, and constructive confrontation in the tiny house movement. In From sustainable to resilient cities: Global concerns and urban efforts. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 289-313. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1047-004220140000014013
Zhang, Y. (2021). Rightful squatting: Housing movements, citizenship, and the “right to the city” in Brazil. Journal of Urban Affairs, 43(10), 1405-1422. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2020.1749005