Repairing Home, Rebuilding Mental Well-being: Mitigating Housing Precarity through Community Materialities of Care

Housing is a foundation of individual and community health. Extensive research has demonstrated the growing precarity in housing and its negative impact on mental well-being. However, relatively less empirical work has examined alternative community initiatives that alleviate tenants’ adversities. Capitalizing on the concept of materialities of care, this study investigates the role of community-collective actions in mitigating the negative mental health consequences of housing disadvantages. It focuses on a nonprofit home repair center, a grassroots community initiative aimed at serving tenants of informal subdivided units (SDUs) in Hong Kong, one of the world’s priciest housing markets. Based on interviews with 53 families and on ethnographic and participant observation in neighborhoods concentrated with SDUs, the study reveals the adverse effects of inadequate housing on tenants’ mental health. It identifies the mechanisms through which the home repair center improved tenants’ mental outcomes. Findings demonstrate that the program enhanced tenants’ mental well-being through the following three aspects: spatio-material, personal, and socio-relational dimensions. By participating in the program, tenants experienced improved mental states through home upgrading, enhanced self-efficacy, a sense of empowerment, and nurtured social care collectives that enable the exchange of informal care within the community. This study contributes to the literature on housing, community care, and well-being by introducing the theory of materiality. Theoretically, it integrates the materialities literature into health and social care research, consolidating the linkage between home and community care by highlighting the significance of materialities in enhancing well-being at the individual, familial, and community levels. Empirically, it provides a novel example for developing service models that focus not only on resource and service delivery but also on fostering the care capacities of individuals and communities. It suggests that policymakers should recognize the role of grassroots informal care collectives and strengthen them in cultivating community-wide resilience.