Proceedings of the 8th World Conference on Qualitative Research

Introduction: Housing was central during the COVID-19 pandemic, as “staying at home” was the first line of defense against the virus. To reduce the economic downturn’s impact on housing security, preventive and supportive measures were developed, such as moratoria on rents and mortgage loans. In the current cost of living crisis, rampant inflation has combined with the continuous rise in housing rents and the abrupt increase in mortgage rates, putting housing security at risk once more. To support families in financial distress supportive measures were again developed.
Goals and Methods: This paper aims to analyze the opinions and experiences of tenants and indebted homeowners about the support policies implemented during the pandemic and during the cost of living crisis and explore the relation with the level of trust in institutions, an aspect not yet studied. To achieve this aim, a mixed methods approach is used based on quantitative and qualitative data from two nationwide online surveys conducted in 2021 (N=597) and 2023 (N=481). Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS and qualitative data through thematic analysis.
Results: Thematic analysis of 377 answers to open questions (e.g., “What is your opinion on the exceptional financial regime for payment of rents?”) shows that, for homeowners, opinion (positive vs. negative) is mainly supported by opposing perceptions of the effectiveness of the measures, while for tenants a negative opinion is also determined by evaluations of service delivery and responsiveness. Variance analysis shows that in 2021, tenants with a positive opinion tended to present higher levels of trust in public institutions compared to those with an unfavorable opinion. A similar result is found for experience in 2023.
Conclusions: It discusses the role of support policies and policy-executing institutions in guaranteeing housing security in times of crisis and the psychosocial impacts of failing to attain such aims.