Briefs

The release of the ABS Housing Occupancy and Costs data for 2017–18 reveals that, while the total number of households in Australia grew by 14.8 per cent in the decade 2007–08 to 2017–18, the total number of lower income households renting in the private rental sector (PRS) increased by 25 per cent (to 1,484,257 households).

A University of NSW Human Rights Clinic report 'No Place Like Home'  found international students are vulnerable to exploitation in Australia’s tight housing market, including paying excessive bonds and high charges for basic utilities, and subject to overcrowding or unsafe conditions. AHURI research has looked at student housing in the context of a Build-to-rent student apartment sector, owned and operated by for-profit Large Corporate Landlords (LCLs).

For some people living with a disability shared home ownership schemes may be a viable housing option. Shared equity schemes involve the home buyer sharing the capital cost of purchasing a home with an equity partner, and allows lower income homebuyers to buy sooner as they need a lower initial deposit and have lower ongoing housing costs.

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.