It is the family life which is usually seen in social policy literature as the important dependant variable to the housing conditions. In this text the opposite view is presented. The housing conditions are treated as an indicator of changing family forms, including its alternative, non conventional shapes; refl ecting general social transitions as well. The verifi cation of the hypothesis has been based upon the comparison of „traditional” and „modern” family types, and of concepts of a „house as a home” (in its broadest, axiological and psychoemotional sense) and an „equipped housing unit”. The cultural and functional transitions in the family–housing area deal with processes of the social order deregulation and esthetization of social reality.