Hawke Policy Website
Housing and homelessness
Research findings
Click on each point to go to the relevant paper or scroll down to browse
Low-cost rental housing
Social inclusion and public housing estate regeneration
Individuals become socially excluded through not having access to secure,
affordable, and low cost rental housing. Social exclusion is greater
among low-income tenants in the private than the public rental market.
Services to homeless people
Vulnerable in the city
Agencies providing services to homeless people in Adelaide cannot provide all the services
their clients require. There is a shortage of medium-term supported accommodation and longer-term
community-managed accommodation in Adelaide.
Public housing and community regeneration
From stigma to demolition
The discourse of a ‘moral underclass’ has been part of social exclusion debates,
and has unhelpfully implicated public housing tenure as a cause of inequality.
Neighbourhood regeneration
Housing authorities have an
important role to play in facilitating resident participation in community regeneration.
However, public and private sector partnerships and goals defined in terms of efficiency
and economic gains may be at odds with resident participation.
Whole-of-government models of neighbourhood regeneration
Whole-of-government models of community regeneration contain inherent tensions in that
ongoing restructuring, rationalisation and financial constraints are conflicting with
traditional public sector objectives to achieve social justice. The aspirations of housing
authorities to increase social inclusion through regeneration are at odds with ongoing
reductions in public housing numbers.
Creating inclusive communities
A ‘balanced social mix’ is not a necessary condition for building inclusive communities and
in fact the implementation of social mix policies may have inadvertent negative consequences
for community regeneration.
Conceptualising social inclusion
Better-coordinated services for public housing estates are of little benefit where resource
limits mean that disadvantaged residents are denied access to basic requirements such as schools.
Public housing and the 'problem' of anti-social behaviour
The issue of anti-social behaviour on housing estates needs to be taken seriously,
despite fears that it might reinforce notions of the ‘underclass’.
Developing effective housing management policies
Anti-social behaviour in public housing is best addressed with a mixture of preventive
and enforcement strategies led by local housing managers, in informal partnership with the police.
Developing appropriate exit strategies
One of the major challenges for housing estate regeneration/renewal programs
is to sustain the benefits of the initial injection of resources, such as through
an exit strategy.
And follow these links to the Social inclusion page:
- Social exclusion has its limits as an analytical concept, but for political and pragmatic reasons it is likely to become an important component of the Australian housing policy agenda.
- The concept of social inclusion could be a useful tool for housing policy if it places inequalities on the policy agenda and if the effects of policy on social exclusion can be measured.
Conceptualising social inclusion in estate regeneration policy: what part does public housing play?
Kathy Arthurson
Just Policy, no 34, 2004, pp 3-13.
The origins of the term ‘social exclusion’ and its use in Australian
social policy are explained in this article. The article looks at the use of
the concept in relation to the future of public housing estates and the use
of whole-of-government models internationally to promote social inclusion.
It presents results of a research study that examined six case study
regeneration projects in housing estates in South Australia, Queensland and
New South Wales. The research asked ‘what were the targeted housing
authorities' whole-of-government regeneration initiatives specifically
directed at inclusion?’ As well, the research questioned how the different
components related to addressing social exclusion within economic, political
and cultural societal spheres.
Creating inclusive communities through balancing social mix: a critical relationship or tenuous link?
Kathy Arthurson
Urban Policy and Research, vol 20, no 3, 2002, pp 245–61.
This paper explores some fundamental assumptions being
linked by state housing authorities to ‘social mix’ strategies in
contemporary Australian public housing estate regeneration policy. Six case
study estates, two each in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland,
form the basis of the empirical analysis. The two major ideas emerging from
South Australian and Queensland projects are: first that lowering
concentrations of public housing and developing more mixed income
communities offers a means to reconnect socially excluded public housing
tenants to mainstream society; and second that a balanced social mix is a
prerequisite for the development of ‘inclusive’, ‘sustainable’ and
‘cohesive’ communities. However, in light of the empirical findings that
strong cohesive communities already exist on some estates prior to
regeneration commencing, there is no evidence that a balanced social mix is
a necessary condition for building inclusive communities. Coupled with the
finding of inadvertent negative consequences of social mix policies, the
paper questions whether policy makers are over-emphasising the extent to
which social mix assists regeneration.
Policy implications:
- All aspects of the regeneration process need to be considered in developing policy, including housing supply, employment, physical changes to housing, impact on the wider community and resident participation strategies.
- Regeneration outcomes are best where there is
minimal social disruption to tenants or existing communities and, where
possible, it is more satisfactory to address socioeconomic deprivation
in situ.
Developing appropriate exit strategies for housing regeneration programmes
Keith Jacobs, Kathy Arthurson and Bill Randolph
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Southern Research Centre,
March 2004
Positioning paper available in PDF. Click on the title.
One of the major challenges faced by state housing authorities engaged in housing estate regeneration/renewal programs is to sustain the benefits of the initial injection of resources. In the UK, exit strategies are an established project management tool deployed in housing regeneration programs. UK research indicates that, to be effective, exit strategies have to be carefully project managed, have the support of key actors within the local community and not be reliant on just one source of funding. In Australia, only the Queensland housing authority has begun developing explicit exit strategies within the framework of housing regeneration.
The paucity of critically orientated research and the absence of explicit exit strategies in the Australian housing context mean that there are important issues that require investigation. In particular, it is crucial to establish: a greater appreciation of the key strategic issues; more understanding on how regeneration/renewal policies are currently organised; and the appropriate tools that can be used for evaluation.
This positioning paper clarifies important definitions, summarises some of the major approaches to housing regeneration practices, documents contemporary practices to secure sustainability once housing regeneration projects have been completed, provides examples of regeneration programs from overseas that have deployed exit strategy models, and identifies the gaps in knowledge that require further research.
Developing effective housing management policies to address problems of anti-social behaviour
Keith Jacobs and Kathy Arthurson
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Southern Research Centre,
November 2003
This report presents research undertaken by the AHURI
Southern Research Centre to develop effective housing management policies to
address problems of anti-social behaviour (a term that covers a range of
behaviours that infringe on the right of tenants to enjoy their own home).
It draws on two case study investigations in Bridgewater, Hobart and
Christie Downs, Adelaide. Public housing is used by many individuals with
limited incomes and high social needs, and this has been exacerbated by
deinstitutionalisation in mental health services. This results in a new set
of challenges for housing managers. The findings show that housing managers
put considerable effort into responding to tenants’ concerns relating to
anti-social behaviour.
Housing authorities in the US and, to a lesser extent, the UK have used the ‘underclass theory’, claiming that individual fecklessness is the root cause of anti-social behaviour, to justify punitive sanctions and rules. In Australia, state housing authorities have sought to adopt more holistic and community-based responses to anti-social behaviour, focusing on the causes of the problem, although there is pressure from some tenants to adopt a more punitive response.
The report concludes that the most successful polices
entail a mix of preventive and enforcement strategies, while the most
efficient means to implement these policies are informal partnership
arrangements with other agencies, especially the police. It is also evident
that housing managers are most effective when they have the scope to
exercise discretion and utilise their knowledge of the locality and their
tenants. Holistic approaches and inter-agency partnerships are viewed as
most effective and these arrangements are seen as a means to generate mutual
respect and understanding across professional boundaries. However, the
active engagement by housing managers in holistic approaches to anti-social
behaviour requires considerable time and expertise. It is therefore
important that the necessary training and resources are made available if
such policies are to succeed.
From stigma to demolition: Australian debates about housing and social exclusion
Kathy Arthurson
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, vol 19, no 3, 2004, pp
255–270.
Although the concept of social exclusion is well established in the UK
and wider Europe, as an alternative to the use of poverty and inequality, it
only recently entered Australian housing and urban policy debates. This
paper explores the dominant debates that emerged about housing and
inequality in two major reports that investigated future options for East
Fairfield (Villawood) public housing estate in New South Wales prior to its
demolition. The dominant debate drew extensively on a moral underclass
discourse that implicated public housing tenure as a major cause of
inequality. Whilst there is little doubt that serious problems existed on
the estate, questions are raised about the utility of this moral underclass
depiction and the rationale it provided for adopting demolition as the
definitive solution. The experience of East Fairfield demonstrates that
demolition is not a low-cost solution in financial or social terms.
Neighbourhood regeneration: facilitating community involvement
Kathy Arthurson
Urban Policy and Research, vol 21, no 4, 2003, pp 357–371
In this paper, the courses of action taken to facilitate residents’
participation, in developing community action plans, in two Australian
public housing estate regeneration projects are examined. The findings are
placed within the context of changes, over the past 20 years, to the
operation of housing authorities that were antecedents to the newly emerging
partnership models of regeneration between the public and private sectors
and communities. Three major findings are highlighted. First, the government
role, in terms of providing support positions and allowing adequate time for
residents to participate is critical to the success of community
participation activities. The second finding is that the ever-increasing
privatisation of public sector activities and pre-occupation with developing
a more efficient, effective and lean public sector, essentially defined in
economic terms, is in conflict with meeting government social goals of
community participation. Third, much of the rhetoric used in neighbourhood
regeneration projects of ‘rights and obligations’ and ‘sustainability’ is
not well defined and is sometimes implemented in contradictory ways. In
applying these terms, the housing authorities and their regeneration
partners need to elucidate the principles they are promoting. In light of
the findings overall, it is concluded that we should question the capacity
of market-oriented regeneration policy to lead to resident inclusion.
Recommendations
- There should be a mixture of top-down from government and bottom-up from community approaches to regeneration. The success of bottom-up processes relies on government provision of staff, structures and sufficient time to support residents to participate and develop confidence.
- Governments need to rethink the level of private sector involvement and control over projects in estate regeneration and further moves to privatise the public sector. These trends will make it even more difficult for governments to achieve social justice objectives such as community participation in regeneration.
- Much of the rhetoric used in community regeneration projects of
‘sustainability’ and ‘rights and obligations’ is not well defined or is
implemented in contradictory ways. Hence, in applying these terms, the
housing authorities and other agencies need to outline the principles
they are supporting more clearly.
Public housing and the 'problem' of anti-social behaviour
Keith Jacobs and Kathy Arthurson
Parity, vol 17, no 10, 2004 and Housing Works, vol 2, no 2,
2004, pp 23–24.
This article discusses the development and methodology of a research
project that examined anti-social behaviour in public housing. It explores
the challenge of investigating this topic without reinforcing stereotypes of
public housing tenants, along with a summary of the project's literature
review and discussion of two case study investigations of housing management
practices in Bridgewater, Tasmania and Christie Downs, South Australia.
Social inclusion and public housing estate regeneration
Kathy Arthurson
In AHURI Southern Research Centre, Social inclusion and housing:
developing research and policy agendas, Seminar Proceedings, June 2002,
pp 79–97.
Abstract only available here. Proceedings can be purchased from AHURI
Southern Research Centre, Department of Geography, Population and
Environmental Management, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA
5001.
Recently the notion of social exclusion entered the debates around the future of Australian public housing estates. This paper first briefly examines the origins of the concept of social exclusion, its contested nature and its recent manifestation in Australian housing and urban policy. The following section draws on the findings of empirical research on Australian public housing estates to talk about the corollary of social exclusion: social inclusion.
Policy implications:
- Whole-of-government models of neighbourhood regeneration need more coordinated and equitable frameworks.
- Values and policies that are acceptable to
Australian society, and in particular the role of public housing, need
to be defined before social exclusion becomes established as a policy
priority in estate regeneration.
Vulnerable in the city: A study of accommodation and other services for vulnerable adults in inner Adelaide
Edgar Carson,
Rodney Fopp and Stephen Parker
Inner City Administrators Group, Adelaide, March 2003
The ‘Vulnerable adults’ study was commissioned by the Inner City Administrators Group (ICAG) and jointly funded by the Department of Human Services and the Adelaide City Council. Data was collected at 12 community and state-funded agencies that provide services for vulnerable adults in inner Adelaide on five days on five consecutive weeks in 2002. The project was designed to investigate the level of demand for services in the inner city; the extent to which demand for services is satisfied; the level of unmet need in the inner city; and gaps in the service system.
In the five days 972 individual persons presented at ICAG agencies a total of 2184 times across the survey period. The respondents were mainly single males, Anglo-Australians and aged 31–55 years. The results show that: demand for services remained relatively constant across the 5 days of the survey period; over half of the presentations at ICAG agencies were repeat contacts – that is, ICAG clients made subsequent presentations over the 5 days of data collection – and the duration of assistance varied, but about half of the respondents had been assisted by agencies for over 1 year.
The services most provided and most needed were: meals, assistance to obtain or maintain independent accommodation, advice and information, emotional support and counselling, and laundry and shower facilities. The services provided closely reflected the incidence of stated need and assessed need. Gaps in service delivery are indicated by the 130 occasions on which no service could be provided and no referral to another agency was available. The 5 service types most likely to be neither provided nor 'referred on' were: assistance with immigration issues; assistance with problem gambling; psychological services; transport; and assistance with legal issues/court support.
The policy implications of this research include:
- the need for more medium-term supported accommodation to respond to the demands of clients with acute needs, including health or behavioural issues;
- the extension of community-managed accommodation operated by ICAG agencies which would successfully provide longer-term, stable accommodation that is a realistic alternative to both private rental and public housing;
- the need for further research, possibly longitudinal research, which could focus in more detail on the nature of outcomes rather than output, and thus be better able to document the nature of unmet demand.
Whole-of-government models of neighbourhood regeneration: the way forward?
Kathy Arthurson
Just Policy, no 29, April 2003, pp 26–35.
In Australia, ‘whole-of-government’ models of
regeneration are increasingly presented as the way to address inequality in
public housing estates. The models involve working in a partnership across a
range of government and non-government agencies to facilitate integrated
service delivery at the local level. However, little is known about the
underlying assumptions of these models or how they are working in practice.
This paper is examines some of the whole-of-government regeneration
approaches to ascertain what is working well and why, and to see what they
reveal about the usefulness of different models in addressing inequality on
estates.
Policy implications:
- The objectives of whole-of-government models of neighbourhood regeneration need to be clarified.
- The regeneration process should include greater public commitment to investment in social and community infrastructure.