Special Issue: Precarious Housing, Health and Wellbeing

The articles that we present in this special issue evidence the diverse ways that housing precarity is experienced by different individuals and groups in cities of the Global North and South. Even when there are differences in the way in which this precarity is experienced according to the context, it is clear that housing precarity is an increasing global issue that requires urgent attention. At the same time, the articles of this special issue show that for some residents in cities, waiting to gain ‘urgent attention’ to their housing precarity is not enough or even feasible. Instead, community actors have taken control and developed a range of alternatives to secure or access housing in ways that enhance the spirit of cities and human well-being by acting together in collective action. Housing has been in crisis for decades across the globe, and the pace of this crisis is increasing even as COVID-19 induces new forms of precarity, including a massive spike in the cost of housing within Australia’s once-affordable regional towns and cities as working from home becomes feasible and city dwellers move to, and increase the demand for housing within, these towns. These multiplying problems, as well as the solutions identified here that are often unrecognised or ignored, require recognition and action from all levels of the community. As editors of this special issue, we strongly call for these alternatives to be better understood, recognised and supported by governments, international financial institutions and the private sector, which have the strongest levers and best opportunities to make swift and effective change. As COVID-19 health responses have shown, large-scale, previously unthinkable government actions can and have been used to mitigate the worst of a crisis. The time for action on ending precarity in housing is now, and as this special edition demonstrates, researchers’ depth of knowledge and understanding is a key resource to be put to work, with clear benefits to the health and well-being of the everyday people of the globe.