The issue of housing affordability is not new for modern economic and sociological research, but in light of the latest global shocks (the spread of coronavirus infection, the growth of various armed conflicts, etc.) it is increasingly beginning to be rethought through the prism of the theory of precarity. However, if in studies of housing precarity, scientists generally agree on the interpretation of this phenomenon (instability, unreliability, uncertainty in the housing situation), then today there is no single approach directly to the methodology for measuring precarity of housing. This problem is brought to the fore within the framework of this article with the aim for the first time to generalize and systematize methods for measuring housing precarity, proposed by researchers from Europe (Housing Precariousness Measure by Clair A., Reeves A., McKee M., Stuckler D., Housing Precarity Index by Waldron R.), the USA (Housing Precarity Risk Model by Chapple K., Thomas T., Zuk M.) and Australia (Precarity Index for Neighborhood and City Housing by Australian Urban Observatory, Neighborhood Employment and Housing Precarity by Mansour A., Martino E., Bentley R., Index of Precarious Housing by Ong Vifor J. R., Singh R., Baker E., Bentley R., Hewton J.), to identify general and specific indicators of housing precarity for each approach. The need for this is due to the fact that in Russia today there is no developed housing precarity index that considers both foreign experience and national specifics. The analysis made it possible to identify the five most common groups of housing precarity indicators used to construct various indexes: affordability, safety and quality of housing, access to basic services and financial potential of households. In conclusion, a methodological assessment is given to each of the proposed indices, its strengths and weaknesses are highlighted, and it is also noted that none of the proposed indices is universal, because uses country-specific indicators and information sources. The results of the study can be used for the further development of a methodology for studying housing precarity in relation to Russian reality and directly for carrying out relevant measurements. This will make it possible to assess the scale of precarization of housing in Russia at various levels (region, city, etc.), based on official statistics, survey results, etc., which can help expand the evidence base for government policy aimed at improving the housing conditions of various strata population.

Keywords: housing sociology, housing policy, housing situation, housing precarity, measurement of precarity of housing, index method

Cite As (APA): Litvintsev D.B. (2024). Possibilities of the index method in measuring housing precarity: a comparative analysis of foreign approaches. Tomsk State University Journal, no. 509, p. 102-112. (In Russ.).

 doi  10.17223/15617793/509/10      EDN  XXXXXX      PDF   Read in Russian