Home Office employing eastern country as place to live (7,6)

I believe the answer is:

housing estate

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'place to live' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'home office employing eastern country' is the wordplay.
'home office' becomes 'HO' (UK government acronym).
'employing' becomes 'using' ('use' can be a synonym of 'employ').
'eastern' becomes 'e'.
'country' becomes 'state' (synonyms).
'ho'+'using'+'e'+'state'='HOUSING ESTATE'

'as' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for housing estate that I've seen before include "Large area of homes" , "Living area" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Mail.

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