Housing issue in intergenerational contract

Abstract

The article deals with one of the most sensitive issues - housing as an essential part of the intergenerational contract. The analysis is based on data of the sociological research devoted to Russian social practices aiming at improving living conditions, and also on the results of the representative survey conducted among older generation in the spring of 2015 in the Kirov region. The proposed approach focused on the individual’ social subjectivity highlights the satisfaction of respondents with their housing and rational disposal of property. It is shown that senior citizens do not consider the housing as an urgent issue; most of them are satisfied even with modest living conditions. The intergenerational mobility upward trend towards improving the living conditions is more and more typical for the younger generations rather than parents; housing improvement methods are being changed. The effect of housing transfer from the older generation to the younger one is leveled off by the high wear-out rates of the transferred housing. The housing improvement problem is vital for all demographic groups of population, but as to senior citizens, the housing solutions are suspended, and the priority has switched from the consumption to the personal comfort and familiar environment. Representatives of the older generation ignore conversations about inheritance and inheritors. However due to high property prices and the population’s low income, inheritance and gift are the most viable ways to improve the housing conditions in the regions.