‘Tell me how you live and I’ll tell you who you trust’: Exploration of the housing determinants of trust in Portugal

Housing has always been a key component of social inequalities, as housing comfort conditions have largely depended on household socio-economic status. However, little is known about how housing inequality relates to sociopolitical attitudes and behaviours. This article aims to examine this relationship by exploring the association between housing conditions and trust in political, public and private institutions. It does so through an exploratory analysis of data from two Portuguese nationwide surveys on housing conducted in 2018 ( N = 1222) and 2021 ( N = 848). The results highlight the significance of housing conditions, housing affordability and (in)security, including the accessibility and services of neighbourhoods, in determining people’s trust in institutions. This study thereby provides evidence supporting the pivotal relationship between housing inequality and social cohesion and calls for future research to better understand this connection.