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New priority research project to examine COVID housing policy interventions

Large-scale interventions are required from different levels of government

24 Jun 2021


The COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic shocks had profound impacts on housing outcomes of many Australians and required rapid and large-scale interventions from different levels of government. The effectiveness of these interventions and the lessons to be learned are the focus of a newly funded AHURI priority research project.

The research, ‘An evaluation of Australia’s COVID-19 pandemic housing policy responses’, is being led by Professor Chris Leishman, Director of the Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Adelaide and will evaluate Australian housing system interventions instigated since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research will draw on a large, highly experienced team to deliver an ambitious research project comprising several distinct approaches, and will examine policy literature, create case studies on international approaches to intervention in the private rental sector, and develop a framework for recommending future policy options.

The study will investigate how successful policy intervention have been across a range of areas including income support, construction stimulus and home ownership, social housebuilding, homelessness interventions and private rental regulatory measures as well as an examinations of future policy options as we move through the next phases of the pandemic?

‘This project is coming at an important time in Australia’s response to COVID,’ says Dr Michael Fotheringham, Managing Director of AHURI. ‘We’ve now had time to see the initial impacts of a number of interventions, but how responsive have they been to targeted groups? This study will deliver time critical research to arm policy makers with the most up to date evidence to aid their future decision making’.

The research report will be published in early 2022.