Contentment and Suffering: the Impact of Australia's Housing Policy and Tenure on Older Australians

Housing policy in Australia historically has focused on facilitating homeownership and creating some buffer for those households that are not homeowners. This paper explores the implications of this policy for older Australians. What is argued is that housing tenure has become a crucial divide and that older Australians who have not had the good fortune to access homeownership or public / community housing and who are dependent on the private rental sector as a result, often find themselves in desperate circumstances. The argument is developed that the failure to put in place a housing policy which would give all citizens the ability to access adequate and affordable housing, has led to a situation where a substantial and increasing number of older Australians have untenable housing costs and minimal disposal income. The article concludes that the present policy initiatives aimed at addressing the housing affordability crisis will have little impact on the situation of older people who are currently in housing stress.     

Rent Control: its Costly Repercussions

This article examines the theory and practice of rent control in the UK and elsewhere in order to contribute to the important debate on the future of the private rental sector in the UK. Our opposition to rent and eviction controls is unequivocal. We shall show that wherever rent control has been imposed the effects have been, at best, adverse and at worst, appalling. The effects on the quantity and quality of a housing stock can be so devastating that one Swedish socialist economist, Assar Lindbeck (1967) concluded: “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing.” Controls which lead to an excess demand for housing foster unfortunate practices such a discrimination on various grounds other than willingness and ability to pay rent, and the creation of a black market. Rent and eviction controls also have a major impact on the mobility of labour. The encouragement to immobility can lead to the perpetuation of structural imbalances in an economy prompting rigidities which can have considerable economic and social costs.     

Government perspectives on housing,technology and support design within Australia's National Disability Strategy

Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a significant disability reform and part of a 10‐year National Disability Strategy that aims to build well‐being and inclusion of Australians with disability. Housing is recognised as a key determinant of health. Transition of state‐funded supported accommodation to an NDIS, within the new Specialist Disability Accommodation framework, aims to deliver housing responses that positively influence NDIS participant outcomes. This study aimed to gather perspectives of government disability and housing representatives on current opportunities and issues for Australians with disability. The study investigated four key research questions, relating to built design; integrated technologies; the relationship between housing and support provision; and community precinct design. Nineteen government representatives from seven of the eight Australian states and territories participated in a roundtable focus group in Melbourne, Australia (March 2017). Focus group data were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Twelve themes were identified in response to the research questions identified. Key policy and practice implications were highlighted. This research offers insights from government that can contribute to strategic housing, technology, support and community design decisions and Australia's National Disability Strategy, to deliver improved outcomes for people with disability.     

Medical and housing needs of older part-time migrant workers and the role of government: the Linyi model in China

The political, social and academic attention on migrant workers in China has been focused on the full-time worker while those who seek part-time work are rarely studied. We explore the effect of part-time day-labour employment of older migrants in an odd-job market in Linyi City. The medical, housing needs and available services for them are analysed. The Linyi government pioneered a program providing comprehensive services to part-time migrant workers, allowing this study to explore the strengths and weakness of the model. Building the appropriate social service industry competencies demands a joint effort from the government, community, organizations, researchers and enterprises.     

The long-term consequences of youth housing for childbearing and higher education

The lack of housing in areas where young adults have greater opportunities to study and get work complicates young adults’ entry into the adulthood. Difficulties in accessing housing may therefore delay childbearing and may negatively have an effect on education opportunities. To increase housing accessibility, some municipalities have earmarked apartments for young adults. These “youth dwellings” are criticized for being small and not necessarily facilitating family formation and fertility, better suiting students’ needs. We have in this paper compared the long-term pattern of childbearing and education for young adults that entered their housing market through small cheap youth housing with those youngsters that received a rental apartment from the ordinary housing stock. To be able to draw the conclusion that differences in fertility and educational pattern between these two groups comes from the different housing situation and not from differences in in preferences when it comes to childbearing or individual prerequisites for higher education, we have used a geocoded data and information on the individual’s family background as well as a matching technique to create a comparison group that are similar to the treatment group in several aspects. The present results indicate that building affordable housing that is small and space efficient is sufficient and positive if the aim is to promote higher education. Affordable housing is on the other hand not enough to promote childbearing, instead, it seems to inhibit childbearing until there is a possibility of moving on in the housing career. Our result also indicates that the next step need not necessarily be homeownership, as earlier research has indicated. Entering the housing market via youth housing and then being able to move on to rental accommodation in the ordinary housing market also seems to have a positive effect on overall childbearing, although moving to cooperative housing or owned housing has an even larger effect.     

“It's hard work,believe me!”: Active efforts to optimise housing by people who live with mental illness and access housing assistance

Secure and appropriate housing is critical for the well‐being of people living with mental illness (consumers). Yet it is often difficult to achieve. Housing assistance is available, but is often difficult for consumers to access and negotiate. While the need for support is well‐recognised, little is known about the active part consumers play in finding and keeping appropriate accommodation. This paper addresses the research question: How do consumers who use housing assistance actively manage their housing situations? In‐depth interviews were conducted with 18 consumers who had used housing assistance within the past five years. These were analysed using constant comparative analysis, based on a grounded theory approach. Participants engaged in a range of activities to address six major concerns: working toward my home; following the rules to keep what I have; managing and improving my accommodation; working with housing services; living within my current situation; and finding and using supports. All participants described times when their mental health negatively affected their ability to do these activities. The findings highlight the need for housing services and mental health services to collaborate to develop policies and protocols that place reasonable demands on consumers and support their abilities to actively manage their housing situations.     

Leaving an Institution in Flanders (Belgium): A Road to Homelessness?

People living in an institution will leave this residential context one day and have to proceed to a stable independent way of living. This transition is not without difficulties as it turns out this socially vulnerable group runs an increased risk of becoming homeless. Research in Flanders (Belgium) has shown that a considerable share of the homeless population has previously stayed in an institutional setting, mostly in youth care (48.7%), psychiatric (34.4%) and penitentiary (33.1%) institutions. Moreover, the share of homeless people with a history in one of these institutions has increased in the past decades. Institution leavers, face at least three obstacles to a stable housing situation in Flanders: a lack of affordable housing, a lack of access to (non-residential) social assistance and personal difficulties in coping with living independently. Yet, there are several programs that support institution leavers and prepare them for the transition to an independent living situation and legal developments that strengthen their position in society and on the housing market. In this paper, we explore these initiatives and developments in three case studies (Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven). Based on in-depth interviews with “street-level bureaucrats” who work in these institutions (youth care, psychiatric and penitentiary settings), social support services and social housing organizations, we reconstruct the pathways of institution leavers to the housing market, the support they receive and the experienced difficulties.     

Privatising social housing in Taiwan

This article first reviews how the concept of privatisation has been referred to in the current restructuring of the social housing system, especially in the case of the UK. The term 'privatisation' is then examined in greater detail and its wider meaning is discussed. By using the network approach, privatisation in relation to housing can be understood in terms of the changing combinations of agents involved in providing social housing, which gives rise to the commodified impact on the distribution of social housing. By using the privatisation process of social housing in Taiwan as an example, three distinct combinations in terms of providing social housing are identified. With an increasing number of social housing units being provided by the marketised social housing model where private agents control the process of providing social housing, along with more market rules being involved in the provision and the partial removal of means tests in relation to the distribution of social housing, the privatisation of social housing development in Taiwan is having a major impact on equity.     

Young People, Housing Benefit and the Risk Society

This paper draws on debates about the risk society to examine the impact of the "single room rent", a restriction in the housing benefit scheme that applies to single people under 25 living in privately rented housing. Drawing on qualitative interviews in six localities in England, the paper examines young people's ability to gain access to and afford privately rented accommodation while receiving housing benefit. It argues that the single room rent restriction has not only cut their housing benefit entitlement but also created more uncertainty for young people. Consequently, it has enhanced rather than ameliorated the risks faced by young people on low incomes in the private rental housing market.     

Safe as Houses? Ageing in Place and Vulnerable Older People in the UK

The UK is very similar to many other European, North American and Australasian countries in its emphasis on ‘ageing in place’. This article does not seek to challenge the importance of this for most older people but rather draws out the challenges and issues raised by older people who are vulnerable or in vulnerable housing situations. This is illustrated through drawing upon three separate studies which are on older homelessness, older people in the private rented sector and owner‐occupiers with dementia.     

“DEREGULATING POVERTY”: LIBERAL-NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND YOUNG PEOPLE

It has come to be almost cliché to say that young people are among those Australians most deeply affected by the restructuring and globalisation which have reshaped the Australian experience since the early 1980s. Youth unemployment and a dramatic decline in the quantity of full-time employment available to 16–24 year olds, and especially to 16–19 year olds, have been accompanied by declining incomes and increasing dependency on parents and social security benefits by young Australians. Winning office in March 1996 after 13 years of Labor government, and with a mandate to implement a reform agenda directed in part at improving employment prospects for young Australians, the Howard Liberal-National Coalition government has pursued policies which impact heavily on the lives of many young Australians.     

Renting in New Zealand: perspectives from tenant advocates

Currently, around a third of New Zealand’s households, and half its population live in rental accommodation. The proportion of tenant households is growing. Tenant advocates, who are a first port of call for tenants experiencing difficulties in their housing situation, can provide unique insight into the experience of renting in New Zealand. This article presents key themes generated from semi-structured interviews with tenant advocates. Tenants are confronted with issues of poor housing quality, insecure housing, high rents relative to income, lack of autonomy, and difficulty asserting their legislative rights. These aspects of renting in New Zealand are likely to have adverse effects on health. Tenant advocates play an important role in supporting tenants to better housing. Their knowledge of the relationship between a landlord and tenant, particularly in times of trouble, means they can provide unique perspectives on policy solutions.     

Rented Housing and Market Rents: A Social Policy Critique

The private rented sector of the British housing market has been in decline since the beginning of the present century; that decline has continued apace since the end of the Second World War. A proposed solution for the stemming of this demise is the removal of present rent controls and the substitution of free market conditions so that rents find their own market levels. This, so it is argued, would enable landlords to obtain a proper return on their housing investments and lead therefore to an increase in supply and an ending to the present disinvestment from this housing sector. This article disputes this thesis. In the first place it is argued that “market rent” is a problematic concept and raises complex issues of distributive justice and social policy — which its advocates ignore. Secondly, it is argued that a free market solution is ahistorical in that it takes no account of the past failure in Britain of privately rented housing; and similarly it ignores the complex web of historical circumstances behind its decline — attributing the decline to the single causal factor of rent control. Thirdly, it is suggested that a market solution is sociologically misconceived because it ignores the characteristics and needs of those social groups dependent upon this sector. Finally, on grounds of practicability it is proposed that a free market in rented housing may be quite inappropriate for the rump of housing stock remaining in the private rented sector; and that, given the current social and economic constraints operating in the housing market as a whole, any revival of this sector is unlikely even with enhanced rental inducements. It is thus concluded that a free market solution is misconceived and would merely serve to impose an ideological straightjacket upon the provision of a basic human need.     

Audit of advertised housing and support vacancies for people with disabilities in Australia

The introduction of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has changed the way housing and support are delivered to Scheme participants. NDIS policy reform focuses on coordinated housing and support responses. These responses are guided by the Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) Rule, Framework and pricing and Supported Independent Living payments. To date, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has only released limited data to understand SDA demand or inform market development. To understand changing housing and support approaches and the impact of NDIS housing policy on market responses, this research had three aims: (1) to examine the locations and characteristics of housing and support vacancies advertised for people with disability; (2) to investigate funding sources for, and providers of, these supported housing options; and (3) to examine the proportion and source of government, nonprofit and private sector funding for housing and support developments advertised. An audit was undertaken of all advertisements on the two main non‐government organisation Websites that list Australian supported housing vacancies. A total of 562 property adverts were reviewed in March 2019. Audit findings are considered in relation to the current NDIS policy context. Possible housing futures and market gaps for people with significant and permanent disability in Australia are discussed.     

Why do tenants leave social housing? Exploring residential and social mobility at the lowest rungs of Australia's socioeconomic ladder

Historically, social housing in Australia operated as a springboard for social mobility. For many working families, public housing tenancy was an opportunity to save for a house purchase deposit. Latterly, tenant exits from public to private housing have declined to very low levels. This has raised concerns about systemic barriers to residential and social mobility for social renters, and about the consequent longer waiting times for applicants in need of social housing. Drawing on administrative data collected by social housing providers in NSW and Victoria, and in‐depth interviews with 95 former and current social housing tenants in both states, this paper examines tenant attitudes, intentions and motivations as regards future house‐moves. We argue that the primary disincentives to exit relate to affordability and security of tenure in private rental, rather than factors related to the social housing system itself.     

Thinking about ageing issues

Advances in longevity and falling birth rates have a profound impact on our societies, in both the industrialized and developing worlds. Demographic ageing is causing considerable concern, if not alarm, in many circles. Yet the public debate about the future of social security is often lacking in accurate and objective information. It is easier to focus on the "burden" of ageing on society than attempt to better understand the complex, interrelated nature of the issues involved, especially the rising numbers of persons of working age who are inactive and contributing neither taxes nor social security contributions. Whether the mode of pension financing is public or private, retirement income of the non-active older population must be paid out of the economic gains of the younger working population. Social security policy is all about making plans now for future generations. This means more carefully defining the terms of the public debate, articulating more clearly the desired objectives and policies.     

Coordinating community organizations in urban China

Since its introduction in the 1980s, China's housing privatization reform has gradually transformed urban residents into private homeowners, and reinforced disparities in housing allocation and living conditions. Various studies have analyzed the mobilization of private homeowners in newly built, upscale apartment complexes. Using data from field observations and in-depth interviews conducted in five low-income, urban neighborhoods in Beijing in 1999–2000, this article investigates the shifts in the organizational and power structure in older, working-class communities. The article describes the changing status of traditional and newly developed organizations and agencies within these neighborhoods, and analyzes the underlying reasons for the displacements and conflicts they experienced. Drawing on the author's subsequent fieldwork with community organizations in the USA in 2001–2002, the article suggests means of coordinating community organizations in low-income, urban neighborhoods in China, and discusses the opportunities and challenges for the social work profession in its attempts to deliver social services and advocate social justice.     

Coordinating community organizations in urban China

Since its introduction in the 1980s, China's housing privatization reform has gradually transformed urban residents into private homeowners, and reinforced disparities in housing allocation and living conditions. Various studies have analyzed the mobilization of private homeowners in newly built, upscale apartment complexes. Using data from field observations and in-depth interviews conducted in five low-income, urban neighborhoods in Beijing in 1999–2000, this article investigates the shifts in the organizational and power structure in older, working-class communities. The article describes the changing status of traditional and newly developed organizations and agencies within these neighborhoods, and analyzes the underlying reasons for the displacements and conflicts they experienced. Drawing on the author's subsequent fieldwork with community organizations in the USA in 2001–2002, the article suggests means of coordinating community organizations in low-income, urban neighborhoods in China, and discusses the opportunities and challenges for the social work profession in its attempts to deliver social services and advocate social justice.