Individualism as public policy: The Incremental housing threatened by energy poverty

Abstract

Incremental housing arises from the difficulty for vulnerable households to access a formal solution, which is why a housing minimum is provided. This generates challenges for public policy, since the inhabitants’ own actions can affect the quality of housing, seen as a critical dimension for understanding energy poverty. This article uses Pierre Bourdieu’s spatial trialectics framework to study individual and community interactions in a 10-year-old incremental housing condominium. The goal is to highlight how families exposed to energy poverty also suffer from a lack of economic, cultural, social, and symbolic resources. For this, a mixed analysis model is used, which includes building surveys, in-depth interviews, and records of environmental parameters. The interpretation of the results shows that individual action under the precarious situation of the families themselves does not manage to configure a symbolic or physical space of collective representation with adequate materialization for the habitability of homes. This is expressed in unfavorable energy performance and indoor environmental quality conditions, highly linked to the constructive modifications undertaken. A systemic view is proposed to address energy poverty in incremental housing that incorporates the social fabric and community cohesion as critical elements with public policy perspectives.