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Choice within limits: how the institutional context of forced relocation affects tenants’ housing searches and choice strategies

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Abstract

Whether renewal-induced relocations have a positive or a negative impact on displaced tenants is hotly debated on both sides of the Atlantic. In response, scientists have examined the outcomes of forced relocations and shown that they can be both negative and positive. However, the choice processes and strategies underlying these mixed outcomes have received much less attention in academia. We therefore examined how the institutional context of forced relocation affects displaced tenants’ choice processes and strategies. The results of a qualitative analysis of interviews with 144 displaced tenants from five Dutch cities show that they can be considered active agents because they adopt different choice strategies. Nevertheless, the choice strategies and experienced freedom of choice differed between tenants who were confronted with different relocation regulations. The limits imposed by and the opportunities of institutional contexts steer the choice processes and strategies of displaced tenants, but are by no means deterministic.

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Notes

  1. Housing associations in Breda have recently switched from the option model to a choice-based letting system. Our data were gathered while the option model was still in use.

  2. The data in this paper are part of the data collection in the “Spillover effects of urban renewal” research project implemented by the Nicis Institute, Corpovenista, Utrecht University, TU Delft and the municipalities of Breda, Ede, Groningen, Rotterdam and The Hague.

  3. When multiple priority holders apply for the same property, the holder whose priority status was issued first will be allotted the property. If priority statuses were issued on the same day, the holder with the longest duration of stay in the previous home is allotted the property.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Annelien Meerts for her valuable help in conducting and analysing the interviews used in this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.115, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Hanneke Posthumus

  2. OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, PO Box 5030, 2600 GA, Delft, The Netherlands

    Reinout Kleinhans

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  1. Hanneke Posthumus
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  2. Reinout Kleinhans
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Correspondence to Hanneke Posthumus.

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Posthumus, H., Kleinhans, R. Choice within limits: how the institutional context of forced relocation affects tenants’ housing searches and choice strategies. J Hous and the Built Environ 29, 105–122 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-013-9353-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-013-9353-6

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