2021 National Housing Research Program projects announced

AHURI has announced the research projects that make up the 2021 National Housing Research Program (NHRP). The NHRP has been an integral foundation for understanding key housing and urban issues and ongoing policy development by all levels of government and housing practitioners for many years.

‘We’re delighted to announce this next round of research projects for  2021 and we acknowledge that this year’s NHRP has already delivered key evidence for Australian governments through the priority COVID-19 Research Agenda,’ says Dr Michael Fotheringham, Managing Director of AHURI.

An important new direction for AHURI is an Inquiry looking at the use of circular economy dynamics in Australian housing. This concept involves as much re-use and recycling of materials and resources as possible, and the research examines its potential in four key housing issues including neighbourhood scale developments, apartments, retrofitting and the use of building materials.

Other research projects include an Inquiry into financing first home ownership that will investigate the economic, social, demographic and policy developments that have affected people becoming home owners; research to develop a cost-benefit evaluation framework to aid stock matching challenges in social housing allocations; developing national predictive models of the impact of life events on housing outcomes; and investigating the options for a national tenancy reform agenda.

The important work AHURI research has performed during the COVID pandemic continues with research tracking the impact of the pandemic on tenants into 2022 and beyond.

‘We’re delighted to announce this next round of research projects for  2021 and we acknowledge that this year’s NHRP has already delivered key evidence for Australian governments through the priority COVID-19 Research Agenda,’ says Dr Michael Fotheringham, Managing Director of AHURI.

‘The eight COVID research projects fast-tracked in 2020 and delivered by our partner universities during the pandemic are currently helping guide policy makers as the nation steers its way through this extraordinary crisis.’

The 2021 NHRP projects

Inquiry into financing first home ownership: opportunities and challenges (led by Dr Stephen Whelan at the University of Sydney)

This Inquiry is supported by modules on:

• Transitions into home ownership – a quantitative assessment  (led by Dr Stephen Whelan at the University of Sydney)
• Assisting first home buyers: an international review (led by Professor Hal Pawson at the University of New South Wales)
• Pathways to home ownership in an age of uncertainty (led by Dr Laurence Troy at the University of Sydney)
• Financing first home ownership: modelling policy impacts at individual and market levels (led by Professor Rachel Ong at Curtin University)

Inquiry into housing in a circular economy (led by Professor Ralph Horne at RMIT University)

This Inquiry is supported by modules on:

• Sustainable housing at a neighbourhood scale (led by Prof Stefanie Dühr at the University of South Australia)
• Sustainable apartment housing: new build and retrofit  (led by Associate Professor Hazel Easthope at the University of New South Wales)
• Sustainable social housing: solutions for large-scale retrofit (led by Professor Emma Baker at the University of Adelaide)
• Building materials in a circular economy (led by Professor Tony Dalton at RMIT University)