REPORT ON HOUSING ASSISTANCE
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Chapter 7 - CONCLUSION
Is housing assistance effective?
7.1 As discussed in Chapter 2, the lack of consistent data on housing
generally and on the private rental housing market in particular make
it difficult to judge the `effectiveness' of the current forms of housing
assistance. The Committee is aware that the data that is available are
exclusively concerned with those who are already receiving some form of
housing assistance, whether in the form of public housing or Rent Assistance.
There is very little information on those low income people who experience
housing stress but who do not receive Rent Assistance.
7.2 According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
about 17 per cent of Australian households (some 905,000 households) on
low incomes experienced some level of housing need in 1991. This figure
is not likely to have changed in the past six years. Not all of the 17
per cent would have been in receipt of Rent Assistance in order to cope
with the private rental market. Of greater concern is the fact that 39
per cent of those who do receive the payment still experience problems
of affordability. While the Committee recognises that a proportion of
those might be deliberately choosing to live in areas of high rental cost,
for a variety of reasons, many others would have no choice in this matter.
7.3 The AIHW's data confirmed that people in one parent households, indigenous
households and young lone-person households made up the majority of those
in housing need. [1] This view has received
further confirmation through the evidence put to this inquiry. The Committee
considers that it is important to recognise that special assistance is
called for in certain instances. All the special needs groups discussed
in Chapter 5 of this report are deserving of special housing assistance.
Balance between funding public housing and rent assistance
7.4 It is argued in Chapter 3 that there has been a shift in the last
decade in Commonwealth funds for housing away from assistance for public
housing through the CSHA towards rent assistance payments for a broader
group of people in the community. The current public housing stock is
such that 6 per cent of all Australians are able to live in public housing.
The Committee would be gravely concerned if the public housing stock became
so depleted that that proportion could not be maintained particularly
since it is a form of tenure that meets the requirements of those low
income groups with special needs. In the Committee's view, the present
proportion of public housing available represents the minimum required
housing support to those groups in our community who face the greatest
need for appropriate (in terms of access to services or to cultural links
essential to them) housing that is also affordable.
7.5 In the Committee's view, it is not appropriate to decrease the public
housing stock before enough data becomes available to enable a realistic
assessment of what is the overall level of need for public housing. Until
that information is available, a sufficient stock of public housing should
be maintained to support those groups identified in this report as having
special housing needs.
7.6 The Committee is strongly supportive of increased assistance for
community housing. Although it may cost marginally more than public housing,
the Committee believes that the benefits in terms of fostering greater
independence and community spirit far outweigh the extra costs. It is
therefore of the opinion, that every move should be made by the Commonwealth,
as well as the States and Territories (as per Recommendations 21 and 23
of this report) to increase assistance to that sector.
7.7 Finally, as it looks to the future of housing assistance, the Committee
sees a need for governments at all levels to take steps to encourage ways
of increasing private sector involvement in social housing. This is not
because the Committee sees this as the solution to the problem of the
shortage of capital for low-cost housing. Rather, it offers some possibilities
for increasing (even if it is gradually and marginally) the pool of available
funds for that purpose. The Committee commends those moves and urges others
to explore the possibilities.
Senator Mark Bishop
Chairman
December 1997
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FOOTNOTES
[1] AIHW, Australia's Welfare, Services and
Assistance 1995, Canberra, AGPS, 1995, p.59-60.