ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the constituents of a house and home and the focus and impact of government policy on this area. The house and home are the foundation of all housing policies as they are the basis of the dweller experience. At the same time, a house or home is itself the direct focus of government policy. The chapter focuses on the house and home, using the affordance approach to analyse the utility and meaning of a house for dwellers and how these two elements are strongly interwoven and subjective. The physical structure of a house affords many uses and meanings. The design and layout of the house may impact on these affordances at many levels by influencing the way that people live and by structuring household activities. The impact of housing improvements on costs could put governments in many dilemmas in relation to the outcomes of intervention, especially considering the subjective nature of the well-being afforded by a home.
