Territorial stigma : ‘Housos’ and the representation of disadvantage in the media

![CDATA[In October 2011 the Australian comedy series ‘Housos’ premiered on SBSTelevision, despite vocal opposition earlier in the year from social housing tenants in Western Sydney. Housos is a satire about the daily life of tenants in a fictitious social housing estate called ‘Sunnyvale’, a lawless zone where people act outside of the law and common norms of society. The depictions of the social housing tenants draw on a number of caricatures and stereotypes, with the characters often portrayed as feckless individuals who shun work, survive on welfare benefits, indulge in substance abuse, routinely commit crimes and cause generalised disorder. This paper reports findings from research which forms part of a larger ARC Linkage project entitled ‘Residents Voices’. The questions and methods used in this study emerged after screening of the first episode of Housos at an inner city social housing estate for an audience consisting of social housing tenants and community workers from across thegreater Sydney metropolitan area. These questions were then taken up in a tenant-led research project conducted over the 9-week season of Housos in Sydney and Adelaide.]]