The Meaning of Home Among Disadvantaged Renting Families: Toward a Home-Centered Social Work Approach

Background: Amid a major affordable housing crisis, scholars have extensively examined housing insecurity and its impact on marginalized groups. At the same time, a separate body of research has explored the meanings of home among these groups. However, little research has connected these two literatures, and limited attention has been given to how low-income renters understand home, despite the centrality of the rental market in their lives. Guided by theories that conceptualize home as a dynamic and ongoing process, this paper investigates how low-income renting families construct meanings of home under precarious conditions and offers a framework for social work practice with populations facing housing hardship.

Method: Rooted in qualitative methodology, this study adopts a constructivist approach that emphasizes meaning-making, highlighting how people construct and interpret the significance of their experiences. The sample included 100 low-income families living in Israel. Inclusion criteria were participants who were married or single parents of at least one child, and participants who rent a home and are not homeowners. To achieve diversity, the sample included three Jewish subgroups (non-Orthodox native-born, immigrants, and ultra-Orthodox) and one Palestinian group. In-depth interviews were the primary method of data collection. Informed by an inductive approach, all data were coded thematically using MAXQDA software.

Findings: Our findings reveal five meaning constructions of home. First, home is understood as an alienated place, where families experience instability, dependence on landlords, and a lack of belonging. Rented homes are seen as temporary and insecure, while homeownership symbolizes stability and long-term security. Second, home is a site of emotional turmoil. Constant anxiety about paying rent, fear of eviction, and uncertainty about the future generate stress, depression, and sleeplessness. These emotional burdens often extend to children. Third, home represents parental commitment. Despite hardships, parents view providing a home as a core responsibility and a marker of good parenting. This commitment drives them to endure sacrifices, work long hours, and persist in securing stability for their children, both in the present and in the long term. Fourth, home is a site of compromises. Due to lack of alternatives, families frequently live in overcrowded or inadequate conditions, sacrificing privacy, health, and family relationships. Finally, home is understood as institutional neglect. Participants describe distrust in welfare systems, emerging from intricate bureaucracy and alienated interactions with state employees. This perception of home has shaped their framing of home as a battlefield for asserting housing rights.

Conclusion: We propose a home-centered social work approach that positions housing insecurity as a pressing social issue. This approach acknowledges both the meanings of home and the concrete actions of homemaking, operating across three levels. At the interpersonal level, social workers should engage with how service users understand home, recognizing how these meanings shape coping strategies and everyday practices. At the community level, they can foster support groups that reduce isolation and build collective awareness and advocacy. At the macro level, social workers should promote policies that expand housing protections and affordability, strengthening solidarity with families while addressing housing insecurity.