Briefs

For governments, investing in affordable housing means aiming to maximise the quantity and quality of new dwellings achievable for the available government resources. One option that works over the long periods of economic cycles is counter cyclical investing, where governments invest more in affordable housing supply during economic slowdowns.

With recent AHURI research examining whether social housing should be considered as infrastructure, it is important to understand the decision making process that applies to ‘standard’ infrastructure projects.

There has been discussion in the media about the challenges facing Australia's growing cities and debate about the impact overseas migration is having on the demand for housing, transport, infrastructure and services. Just how many people are migrating to Australia, which regions are drawing the most migrants and how does this compare with the longer-term trend?

There is a complex two-way relationship between mental health, housing and homelessness, where major life events and a person’s circumstances (e.g. mental health status, housing engagement, income, family support etc.) interact so that mental ill-health can lead to homelessness and, vice versa, homelessness may act as a trigger for mental ill-health.

In contemporary discussion of public and community housing (collectively known as ‘social housing’) in Australia, the sector is often described as experiencing ‘residualisation’. What does this term mean and how did social housing become ‘residualised?’