THICE: Transformations in Housing and Intergenerational Contracts in Europe
Project Description:
This project aims to deepen the understanding of how housing wealth is reshaping intergenerational relationships in Europe and to explore socially just solutions. Increasing housing inequalities with growing concentrations of wealth among homeowners, especially older ones, and diminishing access to affordable housing, especially among younger adults have affected European societies in recent decades. At the same time, there has been a revival of family dependencies and intergenerational transfers that sustain welfare and life-course transitions for younger generations. Intergenerational support, both financial and in kind, has increasingly centred on housing with, for example, rising adult co-residence with parents and family assistance for people buying their first property. This marks a profound shift in the intergenerational contract. To investigate this restructuring of the intergenerational contract, the project applies a comparative, cross-disciplinary approach that integrates quantitative and qualitative analyses. While work packages 1 to 4 focus on analysing the institutional foundations of intergenerational relations; the varying meanings and practices of family and kinship and their intersection with housing and household formation; the intergenerational support and its outcomes; and the inequalities between and within generations in the context of housing; the final work package will develop visions of best practices for Intergenerational Housing Futures.
Funding:
Funded by: VolkswagenFoundation
Initiative: Challenges and Potentials for Europe: Intergenerational Futures
Funding period: 01. September 2024 - 31 August 2028 (4 years)
Work Packages:
This figure illustrates the interconnections between the project's five work packages and the collaborating team members. Each work package addresses distinct research questions using methods tailored to its specific focus
WP1: Institutional Configurations
This work package investigates how institutions, policies, and actors shape intergenerational relations through housing across different national contexts. It combines comparative policy analysis with qualitative case studies to understand how welfare states structure the transfer and use of housing wealth. By analysing datasets and conducting expert interviews, WP1 maps out institutional frameworks and policy changes from 2000–2020 in four countries. The findings provide crucial context for the project's later stages, highlighting how housing-related policies influence intergenerational support and socioeconomic inequality.
WP2: Interpersonal Relations
WP2 explores how family and kinship relationships influence housing decisions and intergenerational support across different national and cultural contexts. Through in-depth interviews with individuals aged 25–40 and their relatives, this work package examines the everyday strategies families use to access and manage housing. Focusing on dyadic country comparisons (Ireland–Spain and Germany–Netherlands), researchers investigate how formal systems (like mortgages) and informal norms shape household formation and support. Fieldwork in four cities—Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, and Granada—will reveal how families adapt to housing pressures and how their practices reflect broader intergenerational dynamics. WP2’s qualitative insights will complement and contextualize the institutional analysis of WP1 and the statistical findings of WP3 and WP4.
WP3: Interpersonal Transfers
WP3 uses quantitative methods to examine how intergenerational support shapes housing and broader life outcomes across four country contexts. Drawing on harmonized cross-national and national datasets, this work package analyzes financial and in-kind support between generations—such as inheritance, co-residence, and mortgage guarantees—and how these practices differ by socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and housing systems. It also investigates how this support influences key life outcomes like housing quality, financial stability, and life-course transitions (e.g., family formation or homeownership). By modelling these interpersonal dynamics, WP3 provides vital insights into how housing-related support can perpetuate or mitigate social inequalities, linking closely with the macro-level analysis in WP4.
WP4: Generational Inequalities
WP4 adopts a macro-level quantitative approach to analyze how housing contributes to inequalities within and between generations across Europe. Using harmonized datasets, it examines disparities in housing tenure, wealth, costs, and quality, and how these intersect with broader socioeconomic factors like income, education, and ethnicity. WP4 also explores how housing-related support affects inequality at the population level, identifying national patterns linked to policy and welfare systems. By combining current trends with modelling of future intergenerational transfers, this work package provides insight into the long-term implications of housing divides and helps assess the sustainability of intergenerational solidarity in different contexts.
WP5: Intergenerational Housing Futures
WP5 brings together findings from across the project to identify pathways toward more just and sustainable intergenerational housing systems. It synthesizes empirical insights from all previous work packages through ongoing collaboration, co-authored outputs, and a final international conference. An expert advisory board and national stakeholder workshops will support the translation of research into practical policy guidance. WP5 aims to highlight best practices and innovative solutions—such as co-living, housing cooperatives, and equity release schemes—that support intergenerational solidarity. It will provide recommendations for improving housing policies and legal frameworks to better align with life-course transitions and support intergenerational care and economic exchange.