For information and reference only – not to be submitted as your own work.
This extract shows how a strong answer to the Social Justice and the City mid-term brief on home and the Irish housing crisis can be built: a conceptual definition of home in the first section, then a focused diagnosis of the Irish housing system in the second. It is a partial model, not a full 1,500-word submission, and it is written to illustrate method. For the reasoning behind each choice, read the companion article on how to write the Social Justice and the City mid-term.
What this sample covers
The mid-term asks for two connected sections that together carry half of the module grade. The first builds a theory of home that later underpins a housing model for a social and affordable housing provider; the second analyses a chosen problem in the current Irish system. The table maps each task to where it appears below.
| Task in the brief | Weighting and length | Where covered in this sample |
|---|---|---|
| Section 1: your theory of housing and home, built on three aspects of home | Half of the 1,500 words (600 minimum) | Model-answer extract, Section 1 |
| Section 2: the main problem or problems in the Irish housing system, analysed with concepts and evidence | Half of the 1,500 words (600 minimum) | Model-answer extract, Section 2 |
| Use of social science concepts | Assessed across both sections | Ontological security, meanings of home, financialisation |
| Evidence and referencing | Assessed across both sections | Official reports, peer-reviewed sources, reference list |
The module code was not stated in the enquiry, so check your own module handbook for the exact marking descriptors and required referencing style. This sample uses Harvard.
Model-answer extract
Section 1: A theory of home (extract)
Home is easily confused with house. A house is a physical asset with a price and a tenure; home is what a household needs that asset to do. The argument developed here is that a socially just housing system must be judged by whether it delivers three aspects of home, not merely by how many units it completes.
The first aspect is security. Dupuis and Thorns (1998) link home to ontological security: the confidence that daily life has a stable, predictable setting from which people can plan ahead. Their study of New Zealand households tied that confidence to security of tenure, and in particular to ownership. The sociological point is not that owning is intrinsically better. It is that stability is what matters, and ownership has historically been the main route to it. Where tenants face short notice periods and rent rises, the stability that makes a place a home is conditional rather than assured.
The second aspect is identity and control. Mallett (2004), reviewing a wide interdisciplinary literature, shows that home is variously described as a place, a space, a set of feelings, a set of practices and a state of being. Across these, recurring themes are family, belonging and the ability to shape one’s surroundings. A household that cannot hang a picture, keep a pet or invite a friend to stay is housed, but it is a stretch to say it is at home. This matters for a housing provider, because management rules are part of the meaning of home.
The third aspect is the social and material foundation that Somerville (1992) draws out through the lens of homelessness. He identifies several signifiers of home, including shelter, hearth, heart, privacy, roots and abode, and argues that homelessness is the loss of these in combination rather than only rooflessness. A family in hotel accommodation has a roof but may lack privacy, a kitchen and any sense of roots.
Taken together, the three aspects give a usable test. Security asks whether a household can stay; identity asks whether it can live as it chooses; the material and social base asks whether the dwelling supports ordinary family life. Section 2 applies the test to the Irish system, and the final assignment will use it to judge any proposed housing model.
Section 2: The main problem in the Irish housing system (extract)
The most productive way to write this section is to narrow, then argue. This extract takes one problem, the inability of lower-income renters to secure a stable home, and one cohort, families with children.
The structural explanation begins with how housing has been treated as an asset. Aalbers (2016) argues that housing has become deeply entangled with global finance, so that its risks and returns are increasingly shaped by financial markets rather than by household need. Byrne (2020) applies this thinking to Ireland, the United Kingdom and Spain, showing how the growth of the private rental sector was bound up with policies and investment flows that treated rental housing as an investment vehicle. In the Irish case, the “generation rent” label captures a cohort that, locked out of ownership, relies on a rental sector that offers less of the security identified in Section 1.
Policy has tried to respond. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (2021) published Housing for All, which estimated that Ireland required an average of 33,000 new homes per year from 2021 to 2030 and set targets across social, affordable and cost-rental homes. The plan has since been archived and superseded, and the Housing Commission (2024) subsequently reported on the system’s shortcomings. A critical answer notes that policy has not stayed still, and asks why the same outcomes persist.
The sharpest evidence of the outcome is homelessness. The Department’s report for the week of 20 to 26 April 2026 showed 17,548 people in emergency accommodation, of whom 5,604 were children (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, 2026; Irish Times, 2026). Using Somerville’s signifiers, a child in emergency accommodation may have shelter but is likely to lack privacy and roots. The figure therefore carries a social justice meaning beyond its size: the burden falls on children who had no part in the market failure.
A strong concluding paragraph for this section would state its claim plainly. Housing in Ireland is distributed by purchasing power and tenure position, so those with the least bargaining power receive the least security. It would then flag the implication for the final assignment: a just housing model must make secure tenure available regardless of income.
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How the extract earns marks
- It defines a concept, then uses it. The three aspects of home return in Section 2 as an evaluative test.
- It narrows the problem. One issue and one cohort allow depth in 600 words.
- It dates every figure and names the source, so a marker can check it.
- It connects theory to evidence in the same paragraph rather than keeping them apart.
- It points forward to the final assignment, which the brief explicitly invites.
How to adapt this to your own submission
- Choose three aspects of home that you can defend from your lecture readings. These need not match this sample.
- Pick a different problem or cohort if possible, such as affordability for young workers or housing for people with disabilities, so your analysis is your own.
- Check each figure against the latest official release before you cite it; homelessness data changes monthly.
- Keep each section above the stated minimum length and the total within the 1,500-word limit, excluding references.
- Follow your module’s required referencing style and cross-check every in-text citation against your reference list.
If you need broader support, see the site’s essay writing services or other solved UCD questions. Students in the capital may also find the Dublin assignment help page relevant.
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The closest available profile for this sample is Laura Kelly, who holds a Master’s in History from Trinity College Dublin, with subject areas including modern and Irish history.
References
- Aalbers, M.B. (2016) The financialization of housing: a political economy approach. London: Routledge.
- Byrne, M. (2020) ‘Generation rent and the financialization of housing: a comparative exploration of the growth of the private rental sector in Ireland, the UK and Spain’, Housing Studies, 35(4), pp. 743–765. doi:10.1080/02673037.2019.1632813.
- Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (2021) Housing for All – a new housing plan for Ireland. Available at: gov.ie (Accessed: 28 October 2026).
- Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (2026) Homelessness report April 2026. Available at: data.gov.ie (Accessed: 28 October 2026).
- Dupuis, A. and Thorns, D.C. (1998) ‘Home, home ownership and the search for ontological security’, The Sociological Review, 46(1), pp. 24–47. doi:10.1111/1467-954X.00088.
- Housing Commission (2024) Report of the Housing Commission. Available at: gov.ie (Accessed: 28 October 2026).
- Irish Times (2026) ‘School holidays “highly challenging” for thousands of homeless children as rates rise again’, 29 May. Available at: irishtimes.com (Accessed: 28 October 2026).
- Mallett, S. (2004) ‘Understanding home: a critical review of the literature’, The Sociological Review, 52(1), pp. 62–89. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2004.00442.x.
- Somerville, P. (1992) ‘Homelessness and the meaning of home: rooflessness or rootlessness?’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 16(4), pp. 529–539. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.1992.tb00194.x.
