Public housing in Australia
Encyclopedia
Public housing
in Australia is usually provided by departments of state and territory
governments. Australian public housing operates within the framework of the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement, by which funding for public housing is provided by both federal and state governments. According to the 2006 census, Australia's public housing stock consisted of some 304,000 dwellings out of a total housing stock of more than 7.1 million dwellings.
The state government departments which are responsible for providing public housing have been known by a variety of names due to their history in each state, such as the Office of Housing (Victoria), the Department of Housing (Queensland
) and Housing SA (formerly known as the Housing Trust, South Australia
). Their official name tends to change with the way each state government prioritises public housing within its departmental structure. For example, for a time in the 1980s, Victoria's public housing had its own department (Department of Planning and Housing). Since the early 1990s, departmental restructuring under the Kennett government relegated its status to the 'Office of Housing' within the Department of Planning and Development. It has since been moved from a 'bricks and mortar' issue to one of health and welfare, now being an office within the Department of Human Services. The management of some public housing has been outsourced to not-for-profit management companies as part of a demand management
philosophy to target it towards people with special needs.
and Sydney
on estates generally comprising 3-5 story walk-up flats and 11-22 story high-rise towers. Since the late 1990s, the Victorian government has embarked on a process of redeveloping its inner-city estates with a mix of public and private housing. Low-density suburban estates can be found in nearly every city and town in Australia. Some of the low-density housing has been sold off over the years to long term tenants, and some has begun to circulate on the private property market at high prices in gentrified
suburbs such as Port Melbourne.
During the late 1970s, as local community resistance grew to inner suburban high-rise estates, public housing programs were severely curtailed. In addition to the reaction to large high-rises in the inner city was the social stigmatisation following the creation of sizeable enclaves of a single, negatively perceived socio-economic group. From the 1980s onwards, the focus was on small-scale infill projects and 'spot-purchase' of existing dwellings in appropriate locations.
where prospective tenants who are on the waiting list for public housing are now also on the waiting list for social housing.
and people with disabilities. Though public housing remains stigmatised in Australia, mainly due its status as a minority tenure, there is little hard evidence to support the stereotype
s that public housing estates are any less safe than other neighbourhoods.
Adelaide
Brisbane
Geelong
Melbourne
Newcastle
Perth
Sydney
Wollongong
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
in Australia is usually provided by departments of state and territory
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
governments. Australian public housing operates within the framework of the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement, by which funding for public housing is provided by both federal and state governments. According to the 2006 census, Australia's public housing stock consisted of some 304,000 dwellings out of a total housing stock of more than 7.1 million dwellings.
Overview
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
) and Housing SA (formerly known as the Housing Trust, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
). Their official name tends to change with the way each state government prioritises public housing within its departmental structure. For example, for a time in the 1980s, Victoria's public housing had its own department (Department of Planning and Housing). Since the early 1990s, departmental restructuring under the Kennett government relegated its status to the 'Office of Housing' within the Department of Planning and Development. It has since been moved from a 'bricks and mortar' issue to one of health and welfare, now being an office within the Department of Human Services. The management of some public housing has been outsourced to not-for-profit management companies as part of a demand management
Demand management
Demand management is a planning methodology used to manage forecasted demand.-Demand management in economics:In economics, demand management is the art or science of controlling economic demand to avoid a recession...
philosophy to target it towards people with special needs.
Dwelling types
Australian public housing has traditionally been of two main types – Inner-city medium to high-rise apartments, and low-density townhouses or fully detached houses on master-planned estates located on, what were at the time of construction, the suburban fringes of cities and towns. The inner-city public housing is mostly found in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on estates generally comprising 3-5 story walk-up flats and 11-22 story high-rise towers. Since the late 1990s, the Victorian government has embarked on a process of redeveloping its inner-city estates with a mix of public and private housing. Low-density suburban estates can be found in nearly every city and town in Australia. Some of the low-density housing has been sold off over the years to long term tenants, and some has begun to circulate on the private property market at high prices in gentrified
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
suburbs such as Port Melbourne.
History
Most public housing in Australia was built around 1945, when the first Commonwealth State Housing Agreement was signed, and 1980, with governments in recent decades less willing to build and provide for new mass public housing estates. The majority of Australia's public housing programs were originally initiated to house returned soldiers and their new families after World War II; a period of chronic housing shortages across the country. However the construction of high-rise estates in Melbourne and Sydney during the 1950s and 1960s was aimed more at improving the living conditions of inner-suburban residents living in sub-standard housing.During the late 1970s, as local community resistance grew to inner suburban high-rise estates, public housing programs were severely curtailed. In addition to the reaction to large high-rises in the inner city was the social stigmatisation following the creation of sizeable enclaves of a single, negatively perceived socio-economic group. From the 1980s onwards, the focus was on small-scale infill projects and 'spot-purchase' of existing dwellings in appropriate locations.
Social housing
In recent years, not-for-profit social housing providers have developed a more prominent role in providing affordable housing to eligible tenants. These social housing providers include charities, and organisations such as the Brisbane Housing Company, a not-for-profit corporation operated by the Queensland Government and the Brisbane City Council. Co-operation between state housing departments and social housing providers is increasing, as in QueenslandQueensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
where prospective tenants who are on the waiting list for public housing are now also on the waiting list for social housing.
Public housing today
Today public housing in Australia is generally seen by governments as welfare accommodation for low income earners, social security recipients and people with support needs such as the elderlyOld age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
and people with disabilities. Though public housing remains stigmatised in Australia, mainly due its status as a minority tenure, there is little hard evidence to support the stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s that public housing estates are any less safe than other neighbourhoods.
Suburbs with public housing
Some suburbs of Australian cities with a high concentration of public housing, with at least 15% of all occupied dwellings recorded as being rented from a state or territory housing authority at the 2006 census, include:Adelaide
- ElizabethElizabeth, South AustraliaElizabeth is a northern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Playford.-History:Elizabeth was established in 1955 as part of a planned satellite town by the South Australian Housing Trust on rural land between the older towns of Salisbury and...
(19.3%) - Hackham WestHackham West, South AustraliaHackham West is an outer southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Onkaparinga.-History:The suburb has existed for about thirty years. Prior to this, the area was rural with vineyards and farms.-Geography:...
(28.1%) - Munno ParaMunno Para, South AustraliaMunno Para is a northern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Playford.-History:In the local Kaurna dialect, Munno Para means golden wattle creek....
(28.2%)
Brisbane
- Acacia RidgeAcacia Ridge, QueenslandAcacia Ridge is a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Acacia Ridge is south of the central business district. The population in the 2001 census was 6648....
(15.6%) - InalaInala, QueenslandInala is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia, situated in the south-west of the metropolitan area.-History:Following World War II there was a shortage of 250,000 houses across Australia. State and Commonwealth Governments responded by making housing a priority. In Queensland alone over 4000 families...
(31.0%) - RiverviewRiverview, QueenslandRiveview is a suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.-Transport:Riverview railway station provides access to regular Citytrain services to Brisbane, Ipswich and Rosewood via Ipswich.-External links:*...
(30.1%)
Geelong
- NorlaneNorlane, VictoriaNorlane is a northern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Norlane is located approximately 7 km from the Geelong central business district and approximately 70 km from the state capital, Melbourne...
(22.6%) - WhittingtonWhittington, VictoriaWhittington is a residential suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, located 4km south-east of the city centre. It is bordered by Boundary, Townsend and Coppards roads and by the former Geelong to Queenscliff railway line now known as the Bellarine Rail Trail....
(17.9%)
Melbourne
- BroadmeadowsBroadmeadows, VictoriaBroadmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hume...
(15.2%) - BraybrookBraybrook, VictoriaBraybrook is a suburb 9 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Braybrook had a population of 6940....
(24.4%) - CollingwoodCollingwood, VictoriaCollingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
(26.1%) - FitzroyFitzroy, VictoriaFitzroy is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. Its borders are Alexandra Parade , Victoria Parade , Smith Street and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is Melbourne's...
(18.1%) - FlemingtonFlemington, VictoriaFlemington is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, situated between the Maribyrnong River and Moonee Ponds Creek 4 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. It was named by settler James Watson after Flemington estate in Scotland. Its Local Government Areas are the...
(27.9%)
Newcastle
- Bolton PointBolton Point, New South WalesBolton Point is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, and is located northeast of Toronto on a peninsula extending southwards into western Lake Macquarie.-External links:...
(40.2%) - WindaleWindale, New South WalesWindale is a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie...
(65.5%)
Perth
- BentleyBentley, Western AustraliaBentley is a southern suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, and is located 8 km southeast of Perth's central business district. Its Local Government Areas are the City of Canning and the Town of Victoria Park...
(16.3%) - KarawaraKarawara, Western AustraliaKarawara is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.-History:Formerly the southern portion of the Collier Pine Plantation, Karawara is an Aboriginal word meaning green. The suburb name was approved in 1973.-Geography:...
(18.5%)
Sydney
- Macquarie FieldsMacquarie Fields, New South WalesMacquarie Fields is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Fields is located 42 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region.Macquarie Fields has a mix...
(24.3%) - WaterlooWaterloo, New South WalesWaterloo is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Waterloo is located 4 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney.-History:...
(37.1%)
Wollongong
- BellambiBellambi, New South WalesBellambi is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It has a station on the CityRail South Coast line.Bellambi is situated directly north of Corrimal and east of Russell Vale...
(33.1%) - BerkeleyBerkeley, New South WalesBerkeley is a suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales. The suburb is located in Wollongong's southern suburbs, on the northern shore of Lake Illawarra....
(23.7%) - WarillaWarilla, New South WalesWarilla is a seaside suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the more established areas and is nestled between other suburbs of Mount Warrigal in the west, Barrack Heights and Barrack Point in the south and Lake Illawarra in the north....
(18.3%) - WarrawongWarrawong, New South WalesWarrawong is a suburb of Wollongong, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on the northeast corner of Lake Illawarra.Warrawong is home to Westfield Warrawong, one of three major regional shopping centres...
(25.8%)
See also
- Housing Commission of VictoriaHousing Commission of VictoriaThe Housing Commission of Victoria was a State Government body responsible for public housing in Victoria, Australia...
- Housing NSW
- Public housing in the Australian Capital TerritoryPublic housing in the Australian Capital TerritoryGovernment built housing in Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory has a history stemming from the decision to build the National Capital in the bush. In the early years Canberra's housing was entirely government-built and even after private development took over there has been a number of...
- American Radburn design for public housingAmerican Radburn design for public housingThe American Radburn design for public housing is a reference the civil engineering designs for public housing estates applied in the 1970s in Sydney, Australia and other places. It is typified by the backyards of homes facing the street and the fronts of homes facing each other over common yards...
State and territory housing departments
- Housing & Community Services ACT
- Housing NSW
- Territory Housing (Northern Territory)
- Queensland Department of Housing
- Housing SA
- Housing Tasmania
- Victorian Office of Housing
- Western Australian Department of Housing & Works