Owner-occupation, social mix and neighbourhood impacts

TLDR

The social exclusion debate highlights that residents of deprived social housing estates face isolation, limited job prospects, and negative social norms, prompting the introduction of owner‑occupation housing as a potential social‑mix strategy. The study aims to chart residents’ social networks and evaluate whether owner‑occupation can reconnect existing residents with broader society beyond the local neighbourhood. The authors collected qualitative data through interviews and resident diaries across three Scottish estates to map social networks. The study finds that owners and renters in regeneration areas occupy distinct social worlds, and owner‑occupation has little impact on renters’ networks, underscoring the need to address homeowners’ housing aspirations and the consequences of car‑centric commercial developments.

Abstract

English There is interest within the social exclusion debate about the extent to which people in deprived social housing estates are socially isolated and their material disadvantages reinforced by exclusion from job opportunities and inward-looking and negative social norms. One approach to this problem has been the introduction of a social mix through the development of new housing for owneroccupation. Through interviews with and diaries kept by residents in three Scottish estates this article charts residents’ networks and assesses the potential for owner-occupation to ‘reconnect’ existing residents with society beyond the local neighbourhood. The article concludes that owners and renters in regeneration areas largely inhabit different social worlds and that the introduction of owner-occupation makes little difference to renters’ networks. Policy implications include the need to meet the housing aspirations of homeowners in these areas, and the effects of promoting largescale commercial developments based on heavy car use in towns and cities.