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Improving housing policy responses to Indigenous patterns of mobility

Summary

Project Number: 40526
Research Theme: Indigenous_housing
Project Leader: Habibis, Daphne
Funding Year: 2008
Research Centre: Southern

Research & Policy Bulletin

Issue 146: Improving housing service responses to Indigenous temporary mobility

The key factors that determine the housing outcomes of Indigenous mobility are whether travel is voluntary or involuntary and how long is spent away from home. Providing the appropriate service response can prevent travel from becoming a pathway into long-term homelessness. This Research and Policy Bulletin provides details of the key findings and policy implications from the completed AHURI research project Improving housing policy responses to Indigenous patterns of mobility.

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454KB PDF Document

Description

The research involved case studies in Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory. It involved a literature review, administrative data analysis and a total of 116 interviews with service providers and Indigenous service users.

Indigenous temporary mobility refers to the short-term movement of Indigenous individuals and families in ways that impact on service demand. It includes a wide range of motives and practices and is underpinned by kinship relationships and a moral economy of cooperation and mutuality.

The temporary mobility of Indigenous individuals and families should not be judged as a problem in itself. The real problem is that much of it is forced, arising from, and maintained by, a mix of severe housing shortage, structural disadvantage, cultural difference and poverty.

Housing services have difficulty distinguishing between culturally motivated temporary mobility and involuntary housing exclusion. This study identifies seven ‘mobility groups’, which are distinguished by their degree of voluntariness of travel and length of absence from home. The risk of homelessness is likely to increase with the length of absence and the degree of involuntariness of the travel taken.

Housing policy responses need to adapt to these distinctions by providing for temporary mobility within the social housing sector (presently flexibility is limited). In addition, present policies addressing service provision in remote and regional Australia are encouraging movement from smaller to larger communities. This is contributing to ‘population churn’ (population in- and out-flows experienced within a given area), potentially increasing Indigenous homelessness.

Strategies for addressing temporary mobility include: provision of appropriate hostel style accommodation and well-managed camp sites; recognition of key hosts and provision of additional space in households that host many visitors; integrating housing support with drug and alcohol and mental health services; and more flexible, and well communicated policies in relation to tenant absences.

More Information

Positioning Paper: No. 124: Improving housing responses to Indigenous patterns of mobility
537 KB PDF Document

Final Report: No. 162: Improving housing responses to Indigenous patterns of temporary mobility
3.4 MB PDF Document

Research and Policy Bulletin: Issue 146: Improving housing service responses to Indigenous temporary mobility
454KB PDF Document