1Beyond positivism: Giving a voice to low income renters in research about housing assistance and paid work

Does housing assistance encourage or discourage participation in paid work? This question is generated by a public policy paradigm of moving low income households from reliance on ‘welfare benefits ’ and into paid work. Much of the consequent research in Australia and internationally has investigated the structural financial disincentives faced by such households in considering paid work and the statistical correlations between receipt of ‘welfare benefits’, including housing assistance, and engagement in paid work. Other than a handful of qualitative studies which investigate ‘behavioural responses ’ to structural financial disincentives, we know very little about the attitudes, preferences and decision making of the people in receipt of housing assistance. In this paper, we report on research that took a more sociological approach to the issue, connecting with research outside of ‘housing studies ’ which considers the practices of everyday life and the ways in which these interact with cultural attitudes and values. The research involved in-depth qualitative interviews with 105 low income households living in social housing or getting Rent Assistance, two-thirds of them women. It found that those interviewed had experienced considerable instability in family life, paid work, housing circumstances and other life experiences. As a result, their daily lives were shaped by the need to (re)establish some stability, particularly in terms of managing their mental and physical health and caring for children and other relatives. Giving a voice to low income renters in this way shows the complex range of factors which underpin decision making about housing and paid work, and the interrelationship between housing and other important aspects of individual and family wellbeing. Key words: qualitative research, interpretive sociology, housing assistance, economic participatio