Informal housing practices

In this introduction to the first of two special issues on ‘Informal housing practices’ we set out the foundations for a research agenda on ‘informality’ within housing scholarship, and propose initial implications for policy and practice. In doing so we draw from the rich conceptual work by urban geographers and political economists who situate informality within wider processes of neoliberalism, globalisation and deregulation, as well as the small but emerging body of research by housing scholars who see informal housing as both a symptom of, and potential solution to, unmet housing need. Our jumping off point for the special issues was an interest in the dimensions of informal housing manifesting in expensive cities and regions of the global north, where the veneer of ‘formal’ urban development and housing markets render informal housing practices largely invisible. Grounded within this context, papers in this issue illuminate different dimensions of informal housing practice; from the physical transformation of dwellings through to the ways in which individuals navigate shared domestic space; or how policy makers seek to expand low cost rental markets by legitimising secondary dwellings and micro-apartments. Drawing on the wider literature on informality and the role of the state in producing/resolving unmet housing need; we argue that informal housing practices warrant further research and policy attention, particularly with respect to cities and regions of the global north.