Public Defence Doctoral Thesis: Ariane Vanbellinghen

About the defence

This PhD departs from a couple of key observations. First, housing plays a crucial role in the wellbeing of older adults. Yet wellbeing is often assessed primarily through objective criteria, such as housing quality and safety, referring to being well, while the question of how one feels receives far less attention.

Second, although good housing is widely recognised as essential for wellbeing, older adults frequently adopt a wait-and-see attitude towards their future housing situation. As a result, questions about how and where they will live in later life often remain unanswered.

Third, access to a place to age ‘well’ is unequally distributed. Financially precarious older adults and tenants are more often confronted with housing insecurities, not only in the present, but also earlier in life and when looking towards the future. Therefore, housing in later life cannot be understood by focusing solely on the current living situation. Past experiences, accumulated resources, and changing life circumstances shape how people live and what they come to value in housing at older ages.

This PhD therefore aims to understand (1) how a life course perspective can be adopted on housing in later life, (2) how housing for wellbeing takes place in later life, (3) how financial precariousness shapes housing experiences in later life, and (4) older adults’ housing preparedness and future housing preferences. Using both qualitative life story interviews and quantitative data to address the research questions, this PhD shows how a life course perspective highlights the complex and dynamic nature of housing. Housing in later life is shaped by a continuous interplay of past, present, and future and cannot be understood in isolation from other life domains (such as income, relationships, health, or work). Moreover, the findings demonstrate that housing for wellbeing goes beyond physical quality standards. It also includes the emotional value of home, the stability it provides, and the degree of mastery older adults have over where and how they live. At the same time, it is important to recognise that housing precariousness is more than an issue affecting only tenants or people with a low income, as it may involve poor housing quality, power imbalances in housing relations, forced relocation, or housing instability across the life course, and therefore goes beyond housing tenure and income status. 

Lastly, when considering the future of housing for older people, it is important to move beyond the question of what individuals would like in the future. The question of what is possible is equally important and points to possible obstacles shaping future housing.

Promoters:

• Prof. dr. Ann Petermans (Hasselt University)
• Prof. dr. An-Sofie Smetcoren (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
• Prof. dr. Liesbeth De Donder (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Chairman of the doctoral jury:

• Prof. dr. Koen Lombaerts (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Jury members:

• Prof. dr. Nele Aernouts (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, external)
• Prof. dr. Sarah Dury (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, external)
• Dr. Dhruv Sookhoo (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
• Dr. Micheline Phlix (Hasselt University)
• Prof. dr. Jan Vanrie (Hasselt University)
• Prof. dr. Bram Vanhoutte (Université Libre de Bruxelles, external)