Techniques of Independent Living

1. Techniques of Independent Living Young People’s Practice of Tenancy Sustainment Alasdair B R Stewart • University of Glasgow

2. 1 Young People & Tenancy Sustainment

3. Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 New Homelessness Homelessness etc Act 2003 Pathways into homelessness Pathways through homelessness Pathways out homelessness

4. Tenancy Sustainment Rates SCSH (2007) Harding (2004: 33) conducted in Newcastle on young people in independent tenancies found 44.9% did not sustain their tenancy for over a year.

5. Measuring tenancy sustainment T1 Enter Tenancy T2 10-12 Months Later Other Measures

6. “Landlord's“ point of view

7. Process Reduction Sustained T1 Enter Tenancy Sustaining T2 10-12 Months Later Non-sustained

8. Process Reduction and dualism Individual Structure Spending Income Needs Skills

9. 2 Longitudinal Qualitative Research

10. Two waves of indepth qualitative interviewing 25 Participants 1st Wave 2nd Wave 18 Participants

11. Participants 17 – 24 age range 6 Changes in house-hold formations 10 LA areas 6 left their tenancy during fieldwork period 11 Organisations 6 had previous tenancies before the first interview 6 Care-leavers

12. 3 Techniques of Independent Living

13. Returning to practice Social life is essentially practical. All mysteries which mislead theory into mysticism find their rational solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice. (Marx & Engels, 1998: 578) Bourdieu – theory of practice However

14. [T]hey should not be afraid, as Foucault (1980: 53-54) intimated of Nietzsche’s thought, “to use it, to deform it, to make it groan and protest” (Bourdieu & Wacqaunt 1992: xiv) Interdependent Relations Embodied Sensitivity Capital

15. Tenant Pressures of the tenancy Tenancy

16. Constellation of Interdependent Relations Economic Position Family Position Tenant Tenancy

17. Techniques of furnishing & decorating Techniques of cleaning Techniques of cooking Tenancy Sustainment Practice Techniques of securing & maintaining an income Techniques with others Techniques of budgeting

18. Techniques of Securing and Maintaining an Income When I went [… to] get booked in [the supported accommodation] they […] gave me a number and told me tae go tae the Jobcentre and start a claim. (Zoe) Benefits Just helping us to look for a job [is a good aspect of the local job club] so we’re not staying on benefits all the time […] cause I hate being on benefits an no working. (Ryan) Employment

19. Welfare & Symbolic Capital of Recognition To access benefits participants’ situations had to successfully translated into a symbolic capital of recognition. They says they werenae giving me it cause I was under 18 and your meant to be 18 when you sign on but its different circumstances when you're like homeless and things like that em so I got dunni-I think I got denied twice actually and then I phoned them up and the wife's like no nono on the phone. (Lesley) I got 6 points so my ESA stopped then, err, the last time on my medical I got zero points, ‘cause the doctor didn’t understand me at all. (Marianne)

20. Modification of pressures I’m not paying the rent really (Graham) I just didn’t want my benefits to be stopped really, otherwise I’d lose my housing benefit and I would have lost the house as well. (Mike) I don’t have to pay it (Lucy) With rent paid through Housing Benefit the pressure shifted from paying rent to maintaining a benefits claim.

21. Charlesworth (2000: 81) “Fortnightly Ritualized Humiliation” Annoying (Alan) [They] play games with ye(Rachel) Too much hassle (Simon) [They] mess ye about so much (Simon) [Making me] even more depressed (Mike) I’d just love tae get oot there an fuckin no be pure depressed man every, like, two weeks going tae the Job Centre […] I’d jist like tae get oot there an earn ma money. (Tom) Shameful (Lesley)

22. Precarious employment There was no lack in desire to work but a lack of jobs that suited participants circumstances. [W]ould depend the hours and it would depend, you know, if it was 16 and under I would, if it was anything between 16 and 33 I wouldn’t, but if it was 35 or over I would. (Graham) I’m willing to get a job no problem, just help me find a child-minder in [the local area], you know, that picks up from this school or, you know, help me find a job that’s ten till two so that the child-minder doesn’t need to pick him up, then I’d be straight back to work. I’d be working *laugh* tomorrow if that happened, you know. (Alison)

23. Techniques of Budgeting A balanced budget is an outcome of budgeting not the process.

24. Changes in Sensitivity Rubbish & Crap versus Stuff […] I […] had to get Sensitivity is an "acceptance of one's place, a sense of limits" (Bourdieu 1985: 728) I didn't know what money was really, I would jist spend it on anything, literally…[later] it kinda slowed itself down, eh, I wasn't spendin it on crap, I was spending it on stuff that I actually had to get. (David) It's weird to actually having my own money like having to go buy food and all that dinnae expect everythin to be as expense as it was but then after a couple of weeks I kind of got the hang of it (Carly)

25. Budgeting is practical accomplishment I've learnt the ropes and I know how to handle the money situation with the limited amount of money, so I'm coping with it. (John) A just dinnae get it. That sounds weird but… a dinnae have a budget plan, it just works oot*laugh*, like, a just have it… it’s like programmed into ma head, like, the stuff that I would need tae get and it kinda just works, [...] it just balances itself ootsomehow. (Robert) For those on Jobseekers budget sheets useful for correcting a technique but not used unless later refinement is needed.

26. The tempo of budgeting I prefer to pay them like monthly rather than weekly ‘cause like I get my money every fortnight, erm, and that’s usually just for food, then [my son’s] Child Benefit goes in every week and that pays for his nursery and his nappies, and like his Child Tax Credits go in at the end of the month and that’s like for the big bills, like the TV licence, the phone and like the gas and electricity, that sort of stuff. (Lucy) I do my shopping then] cause that's the day my benefits go through, and I know if I do it on a Monday after I've had my benefits through and after the weekend, I won't have any money left. (Ryan) The temporality of budgeting is forged by the timing of payments and the amount received.

27. Economy of Needs Over Wants Low levels of income results in the power ratio between the tenant’s other desires and meeting the pressures of the tenancy tilt towards the latter. When I was at home I’d […], buy what I wanted at the weekends [...] But obviously now it’s different cause I need to look after myself, I need to buy what I need and not what I want. (John) I don't think £100 every fortnight is something to live on. I really don't. […] how are you meant to get your gas and electric, your food […] we all want our little bits and bobs, you know… […] you just cannae buy anything that you really want anymore. (Graham)

28. “Getting on with life” Just [more] support [is needed] just like get daeing something with [young people’s] lives like moving forward instead of being stuck in the same place all the time. (Vicky) I like it sometimes when I'm in by myself, but sometimes I get lonely and it's boring because I'm just used to doing that same thing when I come home, and it's just really annoying. (Jenny) Tenancies were not an end in-themselves but seen as component of establishing independence.

29. When techniques are disrupted The disruption of techniques was felt as a move backwards and as reducing independence. [I’m] back [at] square one (John). I'm still eating stuff I shouldnae really be but, I think it's mainly because of ma budget. Because I'm gettin money taken off me for, eh, crisis loans and budget loans so I'm havin to pay them back. (Michael)

30. Welfare Reform Increased sanctions Single benefit payment Monthly Payments Housing benefit paid to tenant “Bedroom tax” Disability assessments