Predatory commodification and housing renovation

This study explores the renovation of housing governed by two tenure formsin Sweden, rental and cooperative housing. Based on a relational approach,we argue that despite requiring a similar need of maintenance at regularintervals, renovation in rental housing takes a substantially different formcompared to cooperatives, regarding the extent of the work, the involvement of, and the outcome for, the residents. With the concept of predatoryhousing commodification, we aim at examining how the process of housingrenovation is organized, what driving forces motivate renovations, along with how it impacts affected residents. Our contribution is twofold: firstly,we conceptualize renovation of housing as a commodifying process, withinthe realm of financialization, most often carried out brutally and contributingto housing inequality; secondly, our contribution is empirical as it covershousing renovation from a relational and contrasting perspective in a fieldthat is still under-studied in the Scandinavian context