Abstract

This article attempts to understand the interrelationships of social capital, residential appropriation, and stability for low-income renters in Jakarta. Housing backlog has been an enduring urban problem in most countries of the Global South, including Indonesia. The government’s affordable rental apartment is considered as one of the plausible options to cope with the escalating housing backlog in big cities like Jakarta. However, as these properties are mass-produced, rental housing has been criticized for lacking compatibility with the inhabitants’ needs, which decreases residential stability due to poor residential satisfaction. Nonetheless, inhabitants deliver residential appropriations by producing and utilising the social capital to survive in incompatible housing units. This quantitative study of one of Jakarta’s affordable rental apartment buildings finds that inhabitants generate the social capital that leads to residential appropriation and promotes residential stability. Neighborliness and civic participation are the dominant elements of social capital, which determine residential appropriations and stability. Furthermore, spatial appropriation plays a pivotal role in fostering residential stability. This study also proves that the lack of homeownership does not impede social capital growth, complementing the existing body of literature, and recommends that safe appropriations should be permitted to enhance social capital and residential stability.