Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Unauthorized secondary suites and renters: a life course perspective

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Secondary suites, or accessory dwelling units as they are sometimes known, are usually discussed as a response to market demand and regulatory frameworks in which questions of legality are related to the supply side of such housing. This paper takes a different perspective in that it focusses on the demand side by making the renter the unit of analysis. Interviews with 32 renters of unauthorized secondary suites located in single family houses not designed for subdivision in the Canadian City of Calgary reveal that these spaces play a transitional role in the life course of the renter. Five types of transition are identified which demonstrate how this type of housing plays a role in status shifts and allows for reorganization of personal identities of the renter. Somewhat surprising, the matter of legality was not viewed as problematic by these renters; however, the stigma of basement living was, which reinforced the perception of this housing form as transitional.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agnew, J. (1981). Home ownership and identity in capitalist societies. In J. S. Duncan (Ed.), Housing and identity (pp. 1–35). London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, J., & McDowell, L. (1989). Landlords and property: Social relations in the private rented sector. Cambridge, GBR: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Antoninetti, M. (2008). The difficult history of ancillary units: The obstacles and potential opportunities to increase the heterogeneity of neighborhoods and the flexibility of households in the United States. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 22(4), 348–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity (M. Ritter, Trans.) London: Sage Publications.

  • Bierre, S., Howden-Chapman, P., & Signal, L. (2010). ‘Ma and pa’ landlords and the ‘risky’ tenant: Discourses in the New Zealand private rental sector. Housing Studies, 25(1), 21–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapple, K., Wegman, J., Nemirow, A., & Dentel-Post, C. (2011). Yes in my backyard: Mobilizing the market for secondary suites. Berkeley, CA: University of California Transportation Center. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org.

  • Cheshire, L., Walters, P., & Rosenblatt, T. (2010). The politics of housing consumption: Renters as flawed consumers on a master planned estate. Urban Studies, 47, 2597–2614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christie, H., Munro, M., & Rettig, H. (2002). Accommodating students. Journal of Youth Studies, 5(2), 209–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • City of Calgary. (2008). PlanIt Calgary: Research backgrounder—Housing affordability and smart growth in Calgary. Retrieved from http://www.calgary.ca.

  • City of Calgary. (2011). Secondary suites grant program agreement. Retrieved from http://www.calgary.ca.

  • City of Calgary. (2012). Suite Safety approach pilot: Letter to property owner. Retrieved from http://www.calgary.ca.

  • City of Calgary. (2013). Economic review and forecast: 2002–2018 Calgary and region. Retrieved from http://www.calgary.ca.

  • CMHC. (2013). Rental market report: Calgary CMA. Retrieved from https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca.

  • CMHC. (2014). Rental market report: Calgary CMA. Retrieved from https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca.

  • Danso, R. K., & Grant, M. R. (2000). Access to housing as an adaptive strategy for immigrant groups: Africans in Calgary. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 32(3), 19–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, C. (2013). Initial findings-suite safety approach (Planning, development & assessment report to SPC on planning and urban development, June 12). Retrieved from http://www.calgary.ca.

  • Dear, M. (1992). Understanding and overcoming NIMBY syndrome. Journal of the American Planning Association, 58(3), 288–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duff, S. (2012). The possibilities in neighborhoods—Utilizing accessory apartments in existing homes to address social, environmental, and economic issues. Urban Design International, 17(1), 33–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dupuis, A., & Thorns, D. (1998). Home, home ownership and the search for ontological security. Sociological Review, 46(1), 24–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischel, W. A. (2004). An economic history of zoning and the cure for its exclusionary effects. Urban Studies, 41(2), 317–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, R. (2015). Calgary families air personal details in ‘inappropriate’ secondary-suite process. Metro News. Retrieved from http://metronews.ca/news/calgary.

  • Flint, J. (2004). The responsible tenant: Housing governance and the politics of behaviour. Housing Studies, 19(6), 893–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gellen, M. (1982). Economic aspects of the regulation of secondary units. Working paper no. 393. Berkeley, CA: Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California-Berkeley.

  • Giele, J. Z., & Elder, G. H. (1998). Life course research: Development of a field. In J. Z. Giele & G. H. Elder (Eds.), Methods of life course research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (Chapter 1). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Grimm, D. (2014). Citizen canine: Our evolving relationship with cats and dogs. New York: Public Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurney, C. (1999). Pride and prejudice: Discourses of normalisation in public and private accounts of home ownership. Housing Studies, 14(2), 163–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hare, P. H. (1981). Accessory apartments: Using surplus space in single-family houses (Planning advisory service report number 365). Chicago: American Planning Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare, P. H. (1989). Accessory units: The state of the art (Report IV survey of installations of accessory units in communities where they are legal). Washington, DC: Patrick H. Hare Planning and Design.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hemmens, G. C., Hoch, C. J., & Carp, J. (1996). Introduction. In G. C. Hemmens, C. J. Hoch & J. Carp (Eds.), Under one roof: Issues and innovations in shared housing (pp. 1–16). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

  • Hesse-Biber, S. N., & Leavy, P. (2011). The practice of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiller, H. H. (2007). Gateway cities and arriviste cities: Alberta’s recent urban growth in Canadian context. Prairie Forum, 32(1), 47–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiller, H. H. (2009). Second promised land: Migration to Alberta and the transformation of Canadian society. Montreal and Kingston, ON: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holdsworth, L. (2011). Sole voices: Experiences of non-home-owning sole mother renters. Journal of Family Studies, 17(1), 59–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Infranca, J. (2014). Housing changing households: Regulatory challenges for micro-units and accessory dwelling units. Stanford Law & Policy Review, 25, 53–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenyon, E., & Heath, S. (2001). Choosing this life: Narratives of choice amongst house sharers. Housing Studies, 16(5), 619–635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krueckeberg, D. (1999). The grapes of rent: A history of renting in a country of owners. Housing Policy Debate, 10(1), 9–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legge, A. W. (1999). Secondary suite regulatory implementation methods in low-density residential districts (Master’s thesis). Calgary, AB: Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary.

  • Liebig, P. S., Koenig, T., & Pynoos, J. (2006). Zoning, accessory dwelling units, and family caregiving: Issues, trends, and recommendations. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 18(3), 155–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linneman, P., & Megbolugbe, I. (1992). Housing affordability: Myth or reality? Urban Studies, 29(3/4), 369–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lister, D. (2004). Young people’s strategies for managing tenancy relationships in the private rented sector. Journal of Youth Studies, 7(3), 315–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lytton, M. (1991). Legalizing existing secondary suites: The city of Vancouver program. In P. H. Hare (Ed.), Accessory units: The state of the art (Report III model zoning: Provisions, processes, and examples from successful communities) (Appendices 1). Washington, DC: Patrick H. Hare Planning and Design.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazur, D. L. (2000). Accessory dwelling units: Affordable apartments, helping people who have low income and people who are aging in single family housing (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing.

  • McFarlane, C., & Waibel, M. (2012). Introduction: The informal–formal divide in context. In C. McFarlane & M. Waibel (Eds.), Urban informalities: Reflections on the formal and informal (pp. 1–12). Surrey, GBR: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendez, P. (2011). Ambiguity at home: Unauthorized geographies of housing in Vancouver (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://open.library.ubc.ca.

  • Mendez, P. (2016). Professional experts and lay knowledge in Vancouver’s accessory apartment rental market. Environment and Planning A, 48(11), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendez, P., & Quastel, N. (2015). Subterranean commodification: Informal housing and the legalization of basement suites in Vancouver from 1928 to 2009. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. doi:10.1111/1468-2427.12337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, B., & Smart, A. (2011). ‘Heart of the new West’? Oil and gas, rapid growth, and consequences in Calgary. In L. S. Bourne, T. Hutton, R. Shearmur, & J. Simmons (Eds.), Canadian urban regions: Trajectories of growth and change (pp. 269–290). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, B. A. (2003). Life course theory. In J. J. Ponzetti (Ed.), International encyclopedia of marriage and family (2nd ed., pp. 1051–1055). New York: Macmillan Reference USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukhija, V. (2014). Outlaw in-laws: Informal second units and the stealth reinvention of single-family housing. In V. Mukhija & A. Loukaitou-Sideris (Eds.), The informal American city: From taco trucks to day labor (pp. 39–57). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neuman, W. L. (2011). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Boston, MA: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pendall, R. (1999). Opposition to housing: NIMBY and beyond. Urban Affairs Review, 35(1), 112–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perin, C. (1977). Everything in its place: Social order and land use in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pike, H. (2015). Secondary-suite tenants not all alike, study says. Metro News. Retrieved from http://metronews.ca/news/calgary.

  • Pruegger, V., & Tanasescu, A. (2007). Housing issues of immigrants and refugees in Calgary (Report to the City of Calgary). Retrieved from http://www.calgary.ca.

  • Rakoff, R. M. (1977). Ideology in everyday life—The meaning of the house. Politics & Society, 7(1), 85–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohe, W. M., & Stewart, L. S. (1996). Home ownership and neighborhood stability. Housing Policy Debate, 7(1), 37–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rollwagen, H. (2014). Constructing renters as a threat to neighbourhood safety. Housing Studies, 30(1), 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ronald, R. (2008). The ideology of home ownership: Homeowner societies and the role of housing. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rowlands, R., & Gurney, C. M. (2000). Young peoples’ perceptions of housing tenure: A case study in the socialization of tenure prejudice. Housing, Theory and Society, 17(3), 121–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. (2012). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudel, T. K. (1984). Household change, accessory apartments, and low income housing in suburbs (New York). Professional Geographer, 36(2), 174–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruud, M. E., & Nordvik, V. (1999). From the kitchen floor to the basement-sharing arrangements in two centuries. Housing, Theory and Society, 16(4), 192–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scally, C. P. (2013). The nuances of NIMBY: Context and perceptions of affordable rental housing development. Urban Affairs Review, 49(5), 718–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Severinsen, C. A., & Howden-Chapman, P. (2014). The problem and politics of temporary housing. Housing, Theory and Society, 31(2), 125–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sloan, M. L. (2014). An exploration of accessory dwelling units as affordable housing in Colorado (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

  • Somerville, P. (1998). Explanations of social exclusion: Where does housing fit in? Housing Studies, 13(6), 761–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Canada. (2011). NHS focus on geography series—Calgary. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca.

  • Tanasescu, A. (2009). Informal housing in the heart of the new West: An examination of state tolerance of illegality in Calgary. North American Dialogue, 12(2), 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanasescu, A., Chui, E., & Smart, A. (2010). Tops and bottoms: State tolerance of illegal housing in Hong Kong and Calgary. Habitat International, 34(4), 478–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vassenden, A., & Lie, T. (2013). Telling others how you live—Refining Goffman’s stigma theory through an analysis of housing strugglers in a homeowner nation. Symbolic Interaction, 36(1), 78–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vibrant Communities Calgary. (2012). Living wage. Retrieved from http://www.vibrantcalgary.com/vibrant-initiatives/living-wage/.

  • Warner, C., & Sharp, G. (2016). The short- and long-term effects of life events on residential mobility. Advances in Life Course Research, 27, 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, V. (2011). Engaging with citizenship and urban struggle through an informality lens. Planning Theory & Practice, 12(1), 150–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter, I. (1994). The radical home owner: Housing tenure and social change. Basel: Gordon and Breach Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wulff, M. (1997). Private renter households: Who are the long-term renters? Urban Policy and Research, 15(3), 203–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yiftachel, O. (1998). Planning and social control: Exploring the dark side. Journal of Planning Literature, 12, 395–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Westman Centre for Real Estate Studies, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Pernille T. Goodbrand

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Harry H. Hiller

Authors
  1. Pernille T. Goodbrand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Harry H. Hiller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Harry H. Hiller.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Goodbrand, P.T., Hiller, H.H. Unauthorized secondary suites and renters: a life course perspective. J Hous and the Built Environ 33, 263–279 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-017-9559-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-017-9559-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation