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The location and housing needs of sole parents

Summary

Project Number: 50011
Research Theme: Public_and_Community_Housing, Housing_Affordability
Project Leader: Birrell, Bob
Funding Year: 2000
Research Centre: Swinburne-Monash

Research & Policy Bulletin

Issue 008: Sole parents, social well being, housing location and housing assistance

Sole parents have the highest poverty rate of any group in Australia and, not surprisingly, are one of the largest groups in receipt of housing assistance. The number of sole parents is also growing at a dramatic rate. Important policy questions addressed by the research are whether sole parents are being forced by high housing prices to live in areas of poor job availability and the role of Commonwealth Rent Assistance in supporting the social well being of sole parents.

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Description

The rapid growth in families with dependent children headed by sole parents, most of whom are living on very low incomes, means that their access to affordable housing is an important factor in their residential location. There has been a great deal of speculation and some scholarly work about such choices. The common view is that many sole parents have been forced to move to low housing cost outer frontiers of the major cities, to peri-urban sites on the periphery of these cities, to rural towns or (for those living in Eastern Australia) to coastal centres on the NSW and Queensland coast. It is also often suggested that the availability of public housing is a factor in such movement. If these views are correct, they raise major questions about the capacity of the destinations chosen to provide for the educational and other needs of the children, the employment prospects of their mothers, and in the long term, their children too.

This project utilised Centrelink Family payment files, Child Support Agency client data and Census records to establish an up to date (to 1999) profile of the pattern of movement of sole parents in Australia. The Child Support Agency data set had not been previously utilised by scholars. It provides a longitudinal record of the movement of payees (mainly mothers) who first initiated a claim through the Agency in the first half of 1997 over the two years to mid-1999. The movement pattern established was then used to test ideas about the factors shaping the location of sole parents. The hypothesis about the role of affordable housing in shaping residential location was explored by comparing the housing situation of sole parent families in the major destination points, relative to the locations they left behind. The findings should be of great interest to Commonwealth and State housing authorities, since they indicate the direction of movement of one of the social groups these authorities usually regard as having high priority in housing assistance. They will also be important to welfare authorities responsible for advice on the housing, welfare, educational and other needs of one of the most disadvantaged groups in Australia, yet one which is shouldering a major part of the burden of raising the next generation.

More Information

Research and Policy Bulletin: Issue 008: Sole parents, social well being, housing location and housing assistance
76 KB PDF Document

Positioning Paper: No. 005: The location and housing needs of lone parents
135 KB PDF Document

Final Report: No. 007: The location and housing needs of lone parents
618 KB PDF Document