Risky Communications and Precarity in London's Shared Housing

This book delves into the growing phenomenon of house-sharing among working professionals in London, analysing it within the broader context of the housing crisis, evolving lifestyle choices, and the shifting household structures of late modernity. Set against a backdrop of economic instability and spatial precarity, it explores the lived experiences of unrelated adults who come together to form households in diverse, multicultural urban environments. These households bring together individuals from various ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, requiring a complex negotiation of shared spaces and a delicate balancing act to foster social cohesion and mutual understanding. Through narrative interviews with 20 full-time professionals and detailed discourse analysis, the author uncovers the intricate ways house sharers navigate intimacy, identity, and agency under precarious living conditions. She highlights how housemates develop and employ language socialization strategies to manage household routines, address intercultural tensions, and adapt to the unique social dynamics of shared housing. This process often involves learning to communicate within the professionalised norms of cohabitation while balancing personal boundaries and preserving individual identities. Ultimately, the book argues that shared housing both reflects and reinforces broader societal shifts in contemporary urban life, underscoring how limited agency and the constraints of shared living reconfigure their notions of home, intimacy, and community in today’s urban landscape. The audience for this book includes academics, postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students, and practitioners interested in urban studies, sociolinguistics, anthropology, geography, and sociology.