Aspirational Homeownership in a Time of Crisis: An ethnography of new homeowners in an Ottawa suburb

While homeownership in Canada has been out of reach for many Canadians for decades, the economic and social conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic propelled the housing market further beyond the means of many young Canadians. Despite the expanding costs, young Canadians continued to jump into a housing market that left them in precarious financial situations. With the housing crisis such a major part of news media, many people decode the term ‘housing crisis’ as the cause of their financial anxieties associated with homeownership. Through ethnographic research with new homeowners in a small suburban community in Ottawa called Findlay Creek and a Peircian semiotic approach, this thesis looks to translate the deeper meaning of homeownership and the experience of the perceived housing crisis. It argues that the phrase ‘the housing crisis’ is a symbol that has come to represent new homeowners’ financial anxieties and sense of belonging to the middle-class.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Anthropology

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Hitsman, Eric Benjamin

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2024 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, distribution to students, research and scholarship. Theses may only be shared by linking to the Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be copied without proper attribution to the author; no part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2024-16155

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/43349