Briefs

For agencies providing social housing to Indigenous Australians it is important to be sensitive to cultural practices that may be at odds with, or even conflict with, norms of social housing operation and management. In particular this is the case where the cultural practice of ‘demand sharing’ can lead to households being seen as ‘crowded’ and in breach of their tenancy agreement.

In the 2017 Budget, the Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the creation of an affordable housing bond aggregator, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), to raise money at lower rates from the wholesale bond market for not-for-profit community housing providers.

The Select Committee on Regional Development and Decentralisation is currently inquiring into best ways to support regional development and the decentralisation of Commonwealth and corporate entities, including the economic impacts of moving Government departments to regional cities and ways to encourage larger businesses to follow them.

Amidst concerns about rising energy costs for Australian households, a look at AHURI research published in 2010 brings to light interesting differences between the energy expenditure of home owners and renters. The report, which examined 2006 HILDA data, found that on average, home owners spent more on energy running costs than households renting a similar size home in the private rental market.

In the UK, government ‘Rent to buy’ programs are ways to help lower income households to afford to buy a home. In Australia ‘Rent to buy’ contracts offered by private vendors are very different arrangements and have even been banned by one state.