Research and projects completed in 2011
Housing Public Policy and Social Inclusion (Swinburne/UTAS/Flinders)
There are two reports from the project:
Hulse, K., Jacobs, K., Arthurson, K. and Spinney, A. (2010) ‘ Housing, Public Policy and Social Inclusion : Positioning Paper'.
Hulse, K., Jacobs, K., Arthurson, K. and Spinney, A. (2011) ‘ At Home and in Place? The Role of Housing in Social Inclusion. '
Both reports can be found on the AHURI website: www.ahuri.edu.au
Improving housing policy responses to indigenous patterns of mobility
Many indigenous individuals and families are highly reliant on the social housing sector because of barriers to private markets. Yet indigenous populations also face difficulties in accessing and sustaining tenancies in housing programs provided by mainstream commonwealth and state and territory housing authorities. One reason for this is that mainstream social housing occurs within a paradigm based on the needs of a sedentary population, involving permanent residence in a single, fixed location. This fails to accommodate the forms of mobility that many Indigenous individuals and families engage in, which reflect attachment to customary practices. This difference between indigenous and non-indigenous lifestyles is one of the reasons for the poor housing outcomes experienced by indigenous peoples in Australia.
The question of how social housing providers should respond to this difference is a vexed one, involving issues of whether alternative and better models of service delivery can, or should, be found. How governments address this question carries implications for the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia because of its impact on Indigenous aspirations for cultural integrity and cultural survival. This study examines this question through a case study approach conducted in locations in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia. Contact: D.Habibis @utas.edu.au
Research and projects completed in 2010
Examining the problem of social housing stigmatisation
While there is mounting evidence for experiences and negative effects of housing and neighbourhood stigma in the empirical literature, there remains limited evidence that considers the effectiveness of strategies for countering its impact on people and places. The AHURI funded investigation identified initiatives that have been implemented to challenge perceptions of social housing and ‘discredited' neighbourhoods, and to reclaim positive place identities. Final report. Contact: Keith.Jacobs@utas.edu.au
Loneliness, housing and health in Australia
The research question that guided this AHURI funded project was: How does the newly emerging issue of loneliness in Australia connect to housing and housing policy in Australia and what is its subsequent impact on health? This project aimed to produce an essay that translated the largely hidden spectre of loneliness in Australia into its proper policy place, on the interface of housing, health and the city. The purpose of this translation was primarily to identify and specify the parameters of an emerging policy area for discussion by policy professionals and policy makers. However, in doing so the essay also identifed new areas for research on loneliness that make a significant contribution to connecting housing and health policy and practice. Final report. Contact: Adrian.Franklin@utas.edu.au
The environmental sustainability of Australia's private rental housing stock
This AHURI-funded project examined, with colleagues from RMIT and Monash Universities, the potential opportunities for and barriers to improving the environmental sustainability of Australia's private rental stock. The project's focus on private rental housing reflected the growing significance of this tenure in the Australian housing system; the vulnerability of private rental tenants to higher energy prices; and the relative lack of environmentally sustainable policy initiatives directed towards private rental housing stock to date. In particular, the project examined the impact of the Australian Government's proposed Carbon Emissions Trading (CET) scheme on private rental tenancies. The scheme poses particular challenges for private rental tenants who are constrained in their adoption of low-emission substitutes as they do not have the right to adapt their homes without landlord acquiescence. Moreover, as the landlord does not reap the immediate benefits of investment in alternative energy efficient equipment, the financial incentives motivating such investment is weaker than those of homeowners. The project outlined the state government budgetary implications of higher energy rebates due to CET and provided policy makers with estimates of the effectiveness of state energy rebates in cushioning the impacts of CET on private renters. In addition, we provided policymakers with insight into strategies that can encourage providers and consumers of rental housing to adopt more energy efficient practices, whilst ensuring that such policies do not exacerbate existing socio-spatial inequalities in Australian cities. Final report. Contact: Michelle.Gabriel@utas.edu.au.
Regulatory frameworks and their utility for the not for profit housing sector
There has been considerable interest in Australian social housing in expanding the small ‘not for profit' sector, within a regulatory framework that makes it possible for governments to give financial support. A number of states have introduced different schemes, and a new National Regulatory Code is about to be introduced. This AHURI project investigated the usefulness of regulatory frameworks for the ‘not for profit' housing sector in Australia , through conducting case studies in three states. The research was conducted by Max Travers from the University of Tasmania, Vivienne Milligan and Bill Randolph from UNSW, and Rhonda Philips from the UQ. Additional research on regulation in the UK, the Netherlands, Austria and the USA was conducted by Keith Jacobs (UTAS), Heather MacDonald (UWS) and Julie Lawson (University of Delft). The project was completed by September 2010. Final report. Contact: Max.Travers@utas.edu.au
Urban 45: New Ideas for Australia's Cities
The Urban 45 initiative crosses 15 themes with 3 proposals each (hence the ‘45' of the title) for public intervention in each area, to ensure that our nation's cities are given a central place in efforts to ensure prosperity for all and to revitalise our community and physical infrastructure. The culminating analysis was produced by leading academics across Australia to produce concise policy-relevant statements that will be relevant to ongoing pre-election debates, and beyond.
ARC Discovery project: Privatising neighbourhoods? Governance and social life in master-planned residential estates
Rowland Atkinson, Robyn Dowling (Macquarie University) and Pauline McGuirk (Newcastle University)
Fear, privatism and prestige increasingly mark the form, management and daily life in new neighbourhoods across the world's major cities. However, recognition and analysis of these developments and daily life within such neighbourhoods in the Australian context has been muted. This research looked at the radical transformation in social and governmental relations at the local neighbourhood and urban scales. While some commentators have interpreted master-planned communities as offering new opportunities for community engagement, others have critiqued them for increasing social exclusivity and segregation.
The research:
- traced the strategies and institutional form of private and public governance of new residential environments in order to contribute to theories of urban governance;
- analysed social interaction within these new residential environments to assess contemporary models of urban social exclusion and the nature of sociability in privately governed and managed neighbourhoods, and;
- provided a distinctive and empirically-informed analysis of Australian master-planned residential estates in the context of international debates about private urban governance and its effects.
The future of Australian public housing: A critical analysis
This project was funded by AHURI and explored questions about the future of state managed public housing and its capacity to address household need and community sustainability. Publications from the project. Contact: Keith.Jacobs@utas.edu.au
Research and projects completed in 2009
Natural disasters: preparations and responses
This project was funded by AHURI and explored how Australian state housing authorities prepare for and respond to natural disasters, revealing the insights of staff and tenants with experience of either flood, bushfire and cyclone. Publications from the project. Contact: Keith.Jacobs@utas.edu.au
Stigma
The capacity of art to enable us to imagine new ways of seeing how we live and the world we inhabit was explored in a recent essay for a catalogue that accompanied an exhibiton that focussed on neighbourhood stigma.
Catalogue for the exhibition, including photographs of the exhibits (PDF 941KB).
An abridged version of the essay on the ABC Unleashed website, as well as comments from readers.
Listen to a radio interview with ABC Hobart featuring John Vella (one of the contributing artists) and Keith Jacobs from HACRU.
Research and projects completed in 2008
The Consequences of the Creative Class for Australian Cities
This work is looking at the impact on affordable housing and communities from the increasing pursuit of creative city strategies and will be pursued through case studies in Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney. Completion date: April 2007. Contact: Keith.Jacobs@utas.edu.au.
Housing affordability for lower income Australians
(AHURI Collaborative Research Venture Project). In partnership with the Universities of Sydney, Swinburne, Western Sydney and RMIT. Contact: Michelle.Gabriel@utas.edu.au
The impacts of social diversity in neighbourhoods
A systematic review of the literature (in collaboration with the University of Glasgow (Department of Urban Studies) and University of Amsterdam (Department of Geography)). Contact: Keith.Jacobs@utas.edu.au.
Research and projects completed 2003 - 2007
The rise of the female investor: young women and housing investment
The rise in young women investing in the Australian property market represents a marked shift in the attitudes and experiences of women compared with previous generations. In view of this trend, Dr Michelle Gabriel is undertaking a study of how housing investment is factored into young women's plans for their financial future. Contact: Michelle.Gabriel@utas.edu.au or on (03) 6226 2361.
Missed Opportunities? An appraisal of Hobart's CBD - The Hobart Urban Profile: Report No. 2 (PDF 1.7KB)
This new report about the potential residential and other uses for Hobart's CBD is Report no. 2 in the Hobart Urban Profile series; Report no. 1 on a housing and urban history of Hobart city-region will be available in early January 2008.
Demanding Behaviour: Developing strategies for the effective management of problematic households (AHURI)
Using literature reviews and case study research across Australia, this work aims to provide best practice guidance to frontline and managerial public housing staff in an attempt to help sustain many of the problems generated from housing tenants with histories of mental illness. The is designed to feed into wider concerns about such demanding behaviour while addressing the costs to tenants and communities generated by pursuing eviction. Funded by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. Contact: Keith.Jacobs@utas.edu.au.
21st Century housing careers
AHURI collaborative research venture project in partnership with Flinders and Monash Universities . Contact: Michelle.Gabriel@utas.edu.au.
National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund (NDLERF)
Project on developing effective strategies for tackling drug and related problems on social housing estates (in partnership with Swinburne and Edith Cowan Universities). Contact:: Keith.Jacobs@utas.edu.au.
Housing management tenant incentive schemes (AHURI funded)
An AHURI project to review. In partnership with Flinders University and University of Queensland . Contact: Keith.Jacobs@utas.edu.au.
The challenges faced by low-income households seeking access to the private rental market (Housing Tasmania)
The housing problems experienced by Indigenous youth and elderly Aboriginal People in Tasmania (in partnership with University of Tasmania's Centre for Aboriginal Education - Riawunna) (Aboriginal Housing Services)
Housing management responses to tackling anti-social behaviour on public housing estates (in partnership with South Australia University). Positioning Paper and Final Report available at AHURI.
A review of social exclusion literature and asses its relevance for housing (in partnership with University of South Australia University). Final Report available at AHURI.
Options available for State Governments to support boarding house providers (in partnership with Queensland University of Technology and the University of Sydney). Positioning Paper and Final Report available at AHURI.
Housing stock transfers in Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria (with colleagues working at University of Western Sydney and University of Queensland (University of Tasmania)
Review of supported tenancies program for young people (Housing Tasmania)
Homelessness issues discussion paper (Department of Health and Human Services)
A critical review of intervention studies and evidence-based policy (with University of Flinders and Adelaide Universities) Final Report available at AHURI.
The development of good practice models in meeting the needs of homeless young people in rural areas (in partnership with Flinders, South Australia and Adelaide Universities). Final Report available at AHURI.
A review of the operation of private rental support programmes for low income households (in partnership with RMIT, Queensland University of Technology, Flinders University, ANU, University of Sydney and Curtin University). Final Report available at AHURI.
Exit strategies and their utility for housing regeneration programmes (in partnership with University of Western Sydney and University of South Australia). Final Report available at AHURI.
Evictions and Housing Management: Towards More Effective Strategies ( in partnership with Flinders University). Final Report available at AHURI.
Housing Affordability issues and their impact within the State (Housing Tasmania)
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