Social Housing in Australia: Evolution, Legacy and Contemporary Policy Debates

Abstract

In Australia, as in many other developed countries, provision of public housing (a form of social housing) formed a core component of housing policy for lower-income earners for much of the twentieth century post-1945. Despite its proportionately small and shrinking size in Australia (less than 5% of all dwellings), the sector's vital social role makes it a continuing central concern in policy debates.The chapter first reviews the history of public housing in Australia from 1945 to the present. This highlights the sector's emergence, evolution and changing roles, its progressive residualisation, its increasingly financially stressed condition and recent renewal strategies. Secondly, the chapter explains post-1980s policy moves to diversify social housing through the promotion of not-for-profit community housing providers (CHPs), including experimentation with public housing transfers to CHPs.