In the summer of 2024, members of the Kinder Institute's Greater Houston Community Panel were surveyed and asked, “What do you think of when you hear the word ‘home’?” Insights were drawn from more than 5,000 open-ended responses, which were generally organized into four broad categories: 1) psychological orientations/attachments, 2) geographical location/built environment, 3) social relationships and 4) activities.
Key findings
- Home often meant multiple things at once to respondents, with 48% describing it in terms related to two or more categories.
- More than half of respondents viewed home through a psychological lens. In particular, many highlighted the importance of feeling safe and secure.
- More than half of respondents thought about home through a geographic orientation, identifying it as a specific location or as a place or space defined by the built environment.
- For many respondents, home was defined by the relationships and bonds they formed and maintained regardless of place or location.
- Ten percent of Houston-area residents defined home in terms of the variety of activities that took place within it, including daily things like eating, sleeping and relaxing.
- A small number of respondents associated the word with negative experiences, highlighting the fluid nature of home in the context of high stress.
