Power, Andrew, Chinn, Deborah, Brickley, Katy, Levitan, Tony and Ali, Shalim (2026) Negotiating shared housing, care and disability: how housemates, staff and family members navigate ambivalent atmospheres of home-making. Geoforum, 169, [104513]. (doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2025.104513).
Abstract
Feeling a sense of home has long been an aspiration by and for people in shared supported housing yet is often overlooked in its provision. In these settings, home is co-constituted through the interactions of housemates, care staff and visiting family members. However, the collective perspectives of these three groups remain underexplored, and this housing context is still marginal within geographies of care and home. This study examines how the atmospheres of such homes are shaped through the socio-material presence and practices of these actors, focusing on adults with intellectual disabilities living in staff-supported shared accommodation in England. Using a novel combination of photovoice with housemates and interviews with care staff and family members, we show how the routines, demands and material presence of staff are integral to home-making. Our findings reveal home-making as an ongoing relational competence involving multiple entanglements that unfold across bedrooms, shared spaces and the wider neighbourhood. We argue that attending to the relational atmospheres of home-making exposes how tensions, dependencies and everyday constraints can unsettle a sense of home, while also indicating how more positive atmospheres might be cultivated for housemates. These insights have relevance beyond this group, offering direction for broader work on how a sense of home is relationally made.
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