Research in progress
Explore our current research projects underway, examining a range of contemporary housing and urban policy questions. Current research priorities are determined in consultation with state/territory and federal government officials, industry and non-government experts.
Small-area analysis and projections of social housing change
Public housing asset optimisation, including disposal and subsequent relocation, is a standard for fundraising across Australia. This is variously due to increasing cost of maintaining ageing housing assets; policy aims reducing public housing concentrations and locating housing in higher amenity areas; growing popularity of mixed-tenure schemes; and a broad lack of consistent funding for new stock. While this process creates an income stream now, it is not future focused.
The changing geography of homelessness in Australia (2001-2021) and its structural drivers
This project will address the overarching policy question: What structural factors are important in driving short and longer-term changes in the incidence and geography of homelessness over the period 2001–2021? To what extent is the location of specialist homelessness services and affordable rental housing adequate to respond to this changing geography?
The role of Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) in housing, financial, well-being and health outcomes
Over a third of Australian households are currently private or public renters, with homeownership becoming more challenging to achieve as house price growth accelerates and income growth remains sluggish. Regardless of whether or not households aspire to homeownership, the current macroeconomic environment is characterised by rising costs of living, in part due to rising housing costs. In particular, rents currently make up around 6 percent of the CPI basket, making it the second largest household expenditure class.
Understanding homelessness - new insights with new data
Homelessness imposes significant costs on individuals and society. This research will merge data from a Specialist Homelessness Service provider with unit record files from Australian government Linked Data to better understand the relationship between homelessness interventions, income support patterns and housing trajectories.
Understanding the administration of Australian housing policy
The administration of Australian housing policy is complex, multi-layered and inconsistent across states and territories. It is further complicated by the vertical fiscal imbalance and split responsibilities across the federation, and differing levels of involvement by the not-for-profit and private sectors. This results in varying levels of efficacy and efficiency, with uneven consequences for the outcomes experienced by individuals, households and communities.