ABSTRACT
For centuries researchers have associated homeownership with social benefits, including psychological and physical health (Green, 2001; Hubbard & Davis, 2002). However, despite increasing recognition of the need for gender-specific research on health (Russo, 1990), the relationship between homeownership and women’s health does not appear to be a focus in the housing literature. The objective of this chapter is to examine, in the Canadian context, the relationship between homeownership status and partner violence against women. The extant housing research begs the question of whether living in an occupant-owned dwelling decreases women’s risk for violence by an intimate partner. In other words, does living in a renter-occupied dwelling increase a woman’s risk of experiencing violence? An application of the research on homeownership and health suggests such a hypothesis. Indeed, the only published article that could be found which tested, albeit tangentially, for a relationship between homeownership and violence against women confirmed this hypothesis. Peterson (1980) reported that women in rental housing had nine times the prevalence of violence compared to those who owned their homes. But the existence of a relationship between homeownership and violence raises a further question. If women living in rental housing face an elevated risk for violence, is this a result of ownership status per se, or some other characteristic(s) associated with lack of ownership? Research on homeownership and its effects on children has shown that children of homeowners have better life outcomes compared to those of renters (Hubbard & Davis, 2002). For example, Green and White (1997) found that children of homeowners are more likely to complete high school and that their teenage daughters are less likely to become pregnant. These researchers controlled for quality of neighbourhood, stability of home environment, and the selection of less effective parents into renting versus owning. Despite these controls, the statistically significant impact of homeowning persisted, leading them to conclude that “the evidence is consistent with homeowning being important in itself, rather then [sic] homeowning being important only because it captures the effect of omitted variables such as parents’ personality type” (p. 457). Similarly, after finding that renting was associated with increased wife abuse, Peterson (1980)
speculated that this relationship was a result of homeowners’ higher social status, which Peterson postulated decreases stress, in turn reducing violence.
