Rolf-Kentner-Dissertationspreis Home-(un)making: The Entangled Geographies of Trust and Home in the US Real Estate Economy

Along personal stories, this lecture will illustrate different forms of insecurity and displacement in the US housing market. Many of those affected struggle with a high cost burdens and inadequate housing conditions; they experience evictions and homelessness, while the real estate industry is booming. On the one hand, the lecture aims to quantitatively substantiate this discrepancy; on the other hand, by working with residents’ testimonies, the everyday reality of housing insecurity is fleshed out, contributing to geographic housing studies. Trust and its interconnections with different dimensions of living and feeling at home will be used as an analytical lens. In particular, the experiences of the housing crisis and the resulting insecurity will be highlighted. At the same time, it will be shown that the home as a place of trust is not losing its significance in the face of the housing crisis; on the contrary, its potential and importance are emphasized. This will be illustrated on the basis of political and activist reactions as well as everyday strategies for coping with housing insecurity.