RESUMO
Lockdowns were the major policy response to COVID-19 containment in many countries, and subsequently many people spent abnormal amounts of time at home. Research has found that housing conditions affected more peoples' mental health during the COVID-19 crisis than prior to it, and vulnerable groups were especially affected. One group that may be particularly vulnerable is private renters in shared housing. Using a socio-economic lens, our research examined to what extent mental well-being outcomes were associated with housing conditions in shared housing under COVID-19 restrictions in Australia. Data about private renters were obtained from the Australian Rental Housing Conditions Dataset (n = 1908), collected in mid-2020 during the easing of the first lockdown restrictions. Respondents living in shared arrangements reported higher levels of worry and anxiety (8.5-13.2%) and loneliness and isolation (3.7-18.3%) compared to other household types. Binary logistic regressions showed that COVID-19-related mental and financial well-being variables were the main contributors in COVID-19-related worry/anxiety and loneliness/isolation models. Accumulated housing problems were the only housing condition measure that was significant in the worry/anxiety model. Participants who had more than two people living in a household felt 1.4 times lonelier/isolated compared to those who lived with four or more people. Males and participants who reported good mental health were less likely to feel COVID-19-related worry/anxiety and loneliness/isolation. Our analysis demonstrates the importance of measures for mental health and income during a pandemic and concludes with recommendations of support for shared housing renters during and beyond crisis events.
RESUMO
COVID-19 and its restrictions have had widely documented negative impacts for private and social rental sectors, internationally. Limited evidence exists about how the pandemic effects were experienced in alternative forms of renting such as housing cooperatives. Rental cooperatives, recognised for their principles of democratic control, education and training and concern for community, may offer different outcomes for members than more individually-oriented rental forms. This paper seeks to explore whether and how COVID-19 was responded to within cooperative rental housing models, and if the pandemic posed a challenge to cooperative principles. Using a social practices approach, the analysis first identifies cooperative members' formal and informal responses to COVID-19, and second explores the meaning of such activities in the pandemic context in Australia and Honduras cooperatives. The continuity of usual housing cooperative practices and pandemic measures were analysed via in-depth interviews with 15 residents. Findings indicate that cooperative responses acted to reduce negative impacts of the pandemic or to find effective solutions. Rental housing cooperative residents' lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, invite us to reflect on the role of housing cooperatives in the housing sector, the importance of collaborative housing models and the relevance of housing-based community resilience.
