Housing struggles

A space for living and social reproduction, housing is also, increasingly, a commodity. The promotion of mass ownership was at the heart of a conservative revolution that crushed social struggles and dismantled post-World War II urban planning and housing policies; it was an instrument of consensus-building and cultural hegemony; homeownership is a social construct, presented as a ‘natural’ and individual preference to promote the interests of the minority the population: the wealthiest. Arguments employed to legitimise the rise of the homeowner society – made up of ‘enhancement,’ ‘improvement,’ ‘efficiency,’ and ‘modernization’ – comes from far away. Through family history and historical facts, visiting different nations and cities, the author pieces together a picture of housing at the beginning of the new millennium, painting a scenario in which, contrary to what we are told, the housing crisis affects not only the poorest: the housing crisis it is about a vision of society.