Despite the household being a basic unit of society, a number of housing-related policies are based on unexamined assumptions about relations within the household. Most of these policies are, in fact, still grounded on a unified approach to the household. A growing body of literature on household dynamics, informed by feminist thought, argues for the recognition of a differentiated household whose priorities are derived from negotiation and bargaining between household members. Using housing as an entry point I examine power relations within the household by means of gender and generation axes. I explore the interplay between the ideological, material and emotional dimensions of these relations. I show the saliency of the ideological, particularly the notion of male household head, despite the material reality of what actually happens to contributions by women, men, daughters and sons towards housing improvement in these households. I conclude that the three dimensions bind household members into relations of interdependence.