WPS No.18 | Druta, O. & Ronald, R. (2016) | Intergenerational support for autonomous living in a post-socialist housing market: homes, meanings and practices
The post socialist restructuring of Romania was marked by an abrupt retrenchment of the state and, subsequently, the resurgence of familial interdependencies. A particular arena where this has played out has been the housing system. State rental housing privatization in the 1990s led to mass homeownership, but for young adults seeking autonomous living since then, entering the homeownership market has become increasingly dependent on family resources.
This paper explores housing trajectories and practices of intergenerational support drawing on experiences of a group of people aged 25-39 living independently in Bucharest, as well as those kin that support them. It describes three housing arrangements in which family (parental) resources and property play an important role, and argues that in this context of high interdependence, unequal relationships develop between parents and adult children marked by entitlement on the part of children and over-generosity on the part of parents.
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