Housing and home : objects and technologies of neoliberal governmentalities

For some time housing has been an object of government and governance. It is not surprising therefore that housing is an important focus for analyses of neoliberalization, particularly the socio-spatial implications of neoliberal policies, programmes and processes. Indeed, neoliberalism has become an important explanatory tool when examining the changes to how housing is produced and consumed and the policy settings guiding this economic activity in the twenty-first century. From analyses of privatization processes of social housing, to tracing the precursors and fall-out of the global financial crisis (GFC), the connections between neoliberalization and housing have been made by commentators and academics alike. This chapter seeks to untangle some of the many links made by researchers regarding neoliberalization and housing. It does this in two ways. First, it examines how housing has come to be seen as 'neoliberalized ' :- specifically, the way housing has become an object of government: a problem requiring neoliberalized solutions. The second way in which this chapter examines the neoliberalization of housing is as a technology of neoliberal forms of government- in particular, the way in which housing is not only an object of neoliberal governance, but also an important tool employed m the pursuit of wider neoliberal governmentalities. The chapter concludes with some reflections on how housing studies has evaluated the consequences of the neoliberalization of housing and how this field of research could engage with the wider theoretical debates around the concept of neoliberalism in future.