Understanding Tenants’ Concerns: The Effects of the Housing Crisis on Mental Health, Well-Being, and Income Distribution

Salih Tosun

Abstract: The rapidly increasing housing and rental prices in Turkey are placing a strain on low- and middle-income households, leading to a rise in the rental burden and a decrease in housing affordability. This situation heightens tenants’ concerns about housing, negatively impacting mental health, well-being, and income distribution. This study aims to examine the housing issues faced by tenants in Turkey from a phenomenological approach, focusing on their effects on individuals’ mental health, general well-being, and income distribution. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 Turkish participants who had at least one year of rental experience between February and June 2024. Thematic analysis identified themes such as stress and anxiety, depression, quality of life, social welfare, housing policies, and income distribution balance, which were categorized under mental health, well-being, and income distribution. The study shows that the housing issue directly shapes tenants’ concerns about mental health, well-being, and income distribution, with mental health playing a central role in this interaction. The economic and psychological challenges experienced by tenants highlight the need for broader social and economic reforms in the housing market.

Keywords: Housing problem, Housing, Mental health, Social welfare, Income distribution

Salih Tosun
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1558813
Year 12, Issue 39, Winter 2025


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Housing Conditions and Psychological Well-Being of Families Receiving Social Assistance within the Framework of Adequate Housing Principles

Pelin Şatıroğlu-Güldalı / Reyhan Atasü-Topcuoğlu

Abstract: Poverty, housing problems, and lack of access to adequate housing are closely connected. Poor families often have to live in inadequate housing and face stress and insecurity caused by housing issues, which are linked to psychological well-being. This study aims to reveal the housing conditions and psychological well-being levels of poor families receiving social assistance in Sinop. Using a quantitative research method and a survey model, the study conducted a questionnaire with 378 individuals benefiting from social assistance through quota sampling. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and analyzed using the SPSS22 software package. It was also determined that families receiving social assistance are mostly tenants and therefore unable to benefit from housing maintenance support, which requires homeownership. Consequently, they often live in poorly maintained, low-quality housing. These houses lack tenure security, are unfit for living, and fail to meet the basic needs of the families. The challenges faced by families receiving social assistance highlight the urgent need to improve housing conditions.

Keywords: Poverty, Housing conditions, Social assistance, Adequate housing, Psychological well-being

Pelin Şatıroğlu-Güldalı / Reyhan Atasü-Topcuoğlu
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1559664
Year 12, Issue 39, Winter 2025


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New Dimension of Housing Problem: Energy Poverty and Student Households

Esma Aksoy Khurami / Manolya Aldıçoğlu

Abstract: This study aims to evaluate whether natural gas investments, considered energy-related improvements in urban areas, contribute to the welfare of households in coping with energy poverty. The difficulties experienced in the access and use of energy, a dimension of the right to housing, have been examined. The energy poverty experience of student households living in the Kötekli neighborhood of the Menteşe/Muğla has been evaluated with objective measurement methods through six-month panel data. In addition, student households are subjected to various questions during the semi-structured interviews to assess energy poverty subjectively. The results revealed no significant differences based on the six-month total average expenditures between the heating expenditures of those who benefit from the central heating system and the individual heating system. However, monthlyheating costs and their share in the students’ budget were evaluated separately; it was observed that there were cases in which students using the individual heating systemencountered different extreme values of energy cost. Even some turned off the heating completely to reduce costs. Finally, the study also revealed that the natural gas infrastructure investment developed after the construction of the units could not be used for other energy purposes.

Keywords: Energy poverty, Housing problem, Student, Individual heating, Central heating

Esma Aksoy Khurami / Manolya Aldıçoğlu
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1557358
Year 12, Issue 39, Winter 2025


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Forced Migration and Housing Problems After the Earthquake: The Seeking for a New Life in Kırklareli after the Kahramanmaraş Earthquake

Siyret Ayas Şarman / Mehtap Demir

Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine the effects of forced migration caused by the earthquake, particularly focusing on the need for shelter, and to highlight the housing problems resulting from this migration based on individuals’ experiences. A qualitative research methodology was ussed, with the study designed as a phenomenological research. Interviews were conducted with participants who migrated to Kırklareli from one of the provinces most affected by the earthquake and decided to settle in this province. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed with the Maxqda Analytic Pro (24.5.1) package program. The findings were categorized under three themes: “Situation before the migration decision”, “Decision to migrate to Kırklareli” and “Situation after the migration decision”. These themes were evaluated within the context of releated the the need for shelter and housing problems. The effects of earthquake-induced migration on individuals were observed quite clearly. A common finding from the participants is as follows: Forced migration due to the earthquake has significantly impacted not only people’s housing needs but also housing markets in cities unaffected by the earthquake. When the safe and sustainable shelter needs of migrants are unmet, the housing problem worsens, leading to various challenges, particularly economic and social issues.

Keywords: Natural disaster, Earthquake, Migration, Housing problem, Qualitative research

Siyret Ayas Şarman / Mehtap Demir
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1553468
Year 12, Issue 39, Winter 2025


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An Innovative Solution for the Realization of the Right to Housing in Türkiye: Green Housing

Çiğdem Tuğaç

Abstract: A review of the zoning and disaster legislation in Türkiye reveals an earthquake-oriented approach. However, disasters related to climate change also result in considerable negative outcomes in Türkiye. Losses and damages caused by extreme weather events and climate change-related disasters affect settlements and housing, creating challenges in ensuring the right to adequate housing. Around the world, green housing is being implemented as an innovative solution to combat and adapt to the effects of climate change. This study aims to evaluate the contribution of green housing to the realization of the right to adequate housing in Türkiye and to offer policy recommendations for the future. The study concludes that the construction of green housing within urban transformation projects in Türkiye will support the creation of decent living environments and the realization of the right to housing. This approach will also contribute to achieving climate and disaster resilience for settlements, fulfilling Türkiye’s greenhouse gas reduction commitments in the global fight against climate change, and promoting the effective and efficient use of resources. Another conclusion of the study is that administrative, legal, and human capacities in Türkiye need to be improved in order to realize the right to adequate housing through green housing practices.

Keywords: Right to housing, Green housing, Climate change, Adaptation, Mitigation

Çiğdem Tuğaç
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1550388
Year 12, Issue 39, Winter 2025


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In Erol Güngör’s Thought, National Culture as the Element That Makes Real Modernization Possible

Sedat Gencer

Abstract: Erol Güngör is one of the leading figures of the nationalist-conservative community. His intellectual activity, which began in the mid-1950s, continued until the early 1980s. Erol Güngör has been quite influential as an intellectual through his books outside academia, as well as his articles and essays in magazines and newspapers. He responded to the rise of leftist thought in Turkey in the 1960s and the approach of this tradition, which evaluated the country’s issues by giving priority to politics and economics, with a sociological perspective that emphasized culture and history. He analyzed the process of modernization around the concept of culture. The point he constantly emphasizes in his works is that a national culture has not been established in Turkey as a result of the long modernization experience. This article attempts to comprehend his interpretations and ideas on culture within their historical development. Another aim of this study is to demonstrate his holistic approach to culture. The article does this by comparing Erol Güngör with the references of the tradition he followed and also with the literature that overlaps with his approach. As a result, this article was written to show that an intellectual who drew attention to the capacity of culture to create civilization throughout his life still maintains his importance in today’s conditions.

Keywords: Culture, Nationalism, Modernization, Westernization, Intellectual

Sedat Gencer
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1460922
Year 11, Issue 38, Summer 2024


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The “Political Culture” Dimension of the Military Coups in Turkey on the Axis of May 27 Officers

Cengiz Sunay

Abstract: The influence of social culture on the formation of political culture is widely recognized. The present analysis focuses on the political culture assimilated by military officers, who can be characterized as a subcultural cohort within Turkish political culture that is shaped by Turkish social culture. This examination is conducted within the context of the officers involved in the May 27 coup d’état. The group responsible for orchestrating the May 27 coup encompasses individuals who were affiliated with the National Unity Committee, as well as those who were not appointed to the committee but gained recognition for their leadership in facilitating the coup. This analysis aims to examine the May 27th Mayors as a collective of individuals who have acquired political culture, which has fostered and manifested political inclinations towards a coup d’état. Additionally, it seeks to uncover the shared sentiments, thought processes, and diagnoses that have emerged within this framework among the officers involved in the coup. The analysis focuses on the officers’ perception of their social standing in relation to their professional functioning, their emotional responses to political decisions made by the political power, and the values they ascribed to the interplay between religion and politics.

Keywords: Culture, Political culture, Officers, May 27 Coup, National Unity Committee

Cengiz Sunay
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1460186
Year 11, Issue 38, Summer 2024


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The Power of Culture: Religious Conservatism and Cultural Sovereignty

Göksel Aymaz

Abstract: In this article, the issue of “cultural power”, which is constantly kept on the agenda by representatives of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) at various levels, is examined. This issue expresses the AKP’s desire to carry its power in the political field to the cultural field. The desire for cultural power finds its explanatory universe in the process by which the AKP, whose frame of reference is the “religious conservative”, consolidates its political position in Turkey’s recent history determined by secular modernization. In the article, it is stated that the conservatism of the AKP, integrated into the capitalist world order, has led to a significant cultural habitus transformation, especially among the urban religious people, and has made daily life conservative to a certain extent, but it has not been able to achieve similar results in the part of the cultural field that emphasizes artistic production such as literature, cinema, theater and music, and that this situation It was emphasized that it made the power debate important for the opposition as well. Based on these, it is concluded that culture, which is actually the field of conflicting attitudes and values, can be an area of dialogue between religious conservatism and secular modernity.

Keywords: Cultural ower, Religious conservatism, Secular modernity, Cultural conflict, Cultural opposition

Göksel Aymaz
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1459771
Year 11, Issue 38, Summer 2024


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The Approach of the Major World Religions to Economics and Development

Muhsin Halis / Ayhan Hira / Ahmet Faruk Göksün

Abstract: Religion generally encompasses a set of shared beliefs and practices held by a group of people, as well as cultural traditions, history and mythology. Early economic writings treated religion as an exogenous factor. Later, various theories were put forward to explain the links between religion and development. The rational choice approach sees the flexibility of religion as a rational economic response to changes in the political and economic environment in which religions operate. In addition, approaches that include belief in family, social networks and other elements also determine the relationship between religion and the economy. Previous research on the determinants of economic growth has generally neglected the impact of religion. To fill this gap, it is noteworthy to examine the impact of religious practices and beliefs on economic growth from the perspective of religion on economic activity. The aim of this article is to shed light on the relationship between the state, religion and the economy based on the literature.

Keywords: Capitalism, Religion and economy, Religion and economy development, Islam and eco-nomy, Christianity and economy

Muhsin Halis / Ayhan Hira / Ahmet Faruk Göksün
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1363864
Year 11, Issue 37, Winter 2024


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The Relationship between Economic Development and Human Development: An Empirical Analysis on Fragile Five Countries

Çağlar Ozan Gönüllü

Abstract: The concept of development, especially for developing countries, is too important a concept to be narrowed down to include only economic development. Recent literature have concluded that should be focused on human development for sustainable economic development. Determining the factors and relationships affecting development is important in terms of shedding light on the problems of countries that want to achieve sustainable development goal and suggesting solutions. In this study, the relations between two dimensions of development, economic development and human development, were examined. The dependent variables of the study, which covers 32 years between 1990 and 2021, representing human development are Life Expectancy (YS), Education Period (ES) and Gender Inequality Index (CEE). The variable representing economic development is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. After the data were subjected to homogeneity, cross-section dependence, and unit root tests, economic development-human development relations were investigated with the Westerlund Panel Cointegration Test. According to the test results, the relationship between YS and GDP is statistically insignificant, while the ES and CEE’s relationship with GDP is statistically significant at the 95% confidence interval (p<.05).

Keywords: Economic development, Human development, Fragile Five, UNDP, Westerlund Panel Cointegration Test

Çağlar Ozan Gönüllü
DOI: 10.29224/insanveinsan.1368996
Year 11, Issue 37, Winter 2024


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