Housing disadvantage and the politics of recognition: critical logics for reframing progressive policy reform

Public sector-led accommodation for communities in non-traditional housing is insufficient in scale to meet growing need, and where it is provided, residents feel marginalised on the outskirts of communities and subject to poor housing management practices. This article considers how the production and persistence of housing disadvantage through state social and housing policy approaches to English Gypsies/Travellers and Indigenous Australians physically and figuratively marginalise them. We mobilise an integrated conceptual framework that draws together Foucault’s theorisation of power/knowledge, Goffman’s analysis of stigma, Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, and Glynos and Howarth’s logics of critical explanation. Synthesising two qualitative studies with policy analysis, we show how three empirically grounded logics – mismanagement, ‘mainstreaming’ and dislocation – are sustained by routine practices, hegemonic contestations and affective investments. While the language of ‘mainstreaming’ is highly problematic because of the historical contexts of assimilation and ‘rehabilitation’, the principle of consistent, quality accommodation management policies and practices is a key path to inclusivity. The research points to the need for a policy agenda in which culturally appropriate provision is co-designed with communities. Policy recommendations for future governments include statutory duties for culturally appropriate sites and homes, ring-fenced investment, trauma-informed housing management, Indigenous and Gypsy/Traveller leadership in provider governance, and legislative changes to planning and policing that decentre assimilationist fantasies. The article contributes theoretically by articulating the interplay of social, political and fantasmatic logics in housing governance and practically by providing a roadmap for policy reform that aims to reduce stigma and secure equitable, culturally resonant homes.