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

4. Harding (2004: 33) conducted in Newcastle on young people in independent tenancies found 44.9% did not sustain their tenancy for over a year. Location Authority Area 16 – 17 year olds General Population Glasgow32%20% Edinburgh37%19% Tenancy Sustainment Rates SCSH (2007)

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

6. “Landlord's“ point of view

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

8. Process Reduction and dualism

9. 2 Longitudinal Qualitative Research

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

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

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) Embodied Sensitivity Interdependent Relations Capital

15. Tenant Tenancy Pressures of the tenancy

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

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

18. Techniques of Securing and Maintaining an Income Benefits Employment 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) 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)

19. Welfare & 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 no no 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) To access benefits participants’ situations had to successfully translated into a symbolic capital of recognition.

20. Modification of pressures I’m not paying the rent really (Graham) I don’t have to pay it (Lucy) 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) 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) Shameful (Lesley) Too much hassle (Simon) [Making me] even more depressed (Mike) [They] play games with ye (Rachel) [They] mess ye about so much (Simon) 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)

22. Precarious employment [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) There was no lack in desire to work but a lack of jobs that suited participants circumstances.

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

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 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 oot somehow. (Robert) 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) 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 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. 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)

27. Economy of Needs Over Wants 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) 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. 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 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) [I’m] back [at] square one (John). The disruption of techniques was felt as a move backwards and as reducing independence.

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