David Bunce, Flinders University

Community-based non-profits: can they create affordable housing opportunities and increase social capacity?

The lack of affordable housing has been the subject of much policy debate and is increasingly affecting middle-income households as well as lower-income groups. The purpose of the research is to highlight little-known affordable housing initiatives in Australia and overseas by community-led non-profit groups that may be able to be replicated if other housing non-profits are informed of the model. A further objective is to determine if greater levels of social capacity and residential satisfaction exist in small intentional communities than in the wider community. 

The research methodology will be based within the social constructionist narrative paradigm. It is proposed that field research will be undertaken by a survey questionnaire and discussions with the consumers of the housing and the providing organisation. Two are rental tenures and two owner-occupied. The research will then be presented as four case studies indicating residents’ levels of social capacity and residential satisfaction. 

The proposed case studies are:

  1. Poatina in Tasmania: an ex-Hydro village now owned by a Christian organisation, and its micro village development near Launceston to enable low-income households to purchase their own homes;
  2. a factory-built home cooperative and adjoining mobile home resident-owned cooperative in New Hampshire established by a community loan fund;
  3. a low- to middle-income continuing non-equity rental housing cooperative in Winnipeg;
  4. a low-income rental community developed by a women’s organisation in Montana.

David Bunce - david.bunce@flinders.edu.au

 

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