The housing aspirations of young Australians change as they enter their late 20s and early 30s. But having somewhere safe and secure to call home is the top priority for all young adults.
Older Australians aspire to the security of owning their own home, but prefer smaller houses in their later years.
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Most older Australians want to live in a home they own, preferably in the middle and outer suburbs of a city. But increasing numbers look unlikely to realise their housing aspirations.
Families can use their EITC to improve their housing.
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The Earned Income Tax Credit was established in 1975 to reduce payroll taxes and help with rising prices for low-income families. Today, it could help poor families with housing.
Most new apartments were not designed with families in mind and parents of young children can struggle to make social connections.
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Almost half of apartment residents in Australia are families, but few high-rise dwellings were built with them in mind. Many find these apartments present barriers to building social connections.
Alan Morris, University of Technology Sydney; Hal Pawson, UNSW Sydney; Kath Hulse, Swinburne University of Technology, dan Violet Xia, University of Technology Sydney
While politicians ignore calls to raise Newstart, alarming levels of financial stress among private renters, particularly in low-rent outer suburbs, show why current welfare payments are too low.
Examples from Leeds of 1920s spacious semi-detatched homes built after the Addison Act to replace crowded slum housing.
Chemical Engineer
The Addison Act of 1919 introduced admirable housing standards, but in the century since the industry has put a sqeeze on space and quality.
The damaging effects of housing disadvantage on people’s mental health can persist even years after their housing situation improves.
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The difficulties for people facing housing disadvantage don’t end as soon as their situation improves. They are at higher risk of poorer mental health years or even decades later.
The real work starts now.
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Whether you owned a home or not used to be straightforward. The boundaries are becoming permeable.
Many people exit the mental healthcare system into homelessness, only to return repeatedly to hospital-based care, and sometimes the prison system.
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Without a place to live it is nearly impossible to take care of your mental health needs.The upcoming Royal Commission should recognise the connection between stable housing and mental health.
Without off-street space, vehicle residents crowd available public parking in Seattle. May 8, 2016.
Graham Pruss
Many cities have no standard method for counting the number of people who live in their cars. This means that their issues are often overlooked in policies designed to help the homeless.
Street life, Addis Ababa.
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Development should not be pursued at the expense of the very people who helped to create value and meaning in the city.
Mirvac Pavilions Olympic Park under construction. Build to rent won’t be a simple solution to fix housing affordability, but it can fulfil many other public policy objectives.
Constructing buildings to rent, rather than sell, may fulfil important housing policy objectives – but it won’t take off without tax reform.
As uncertain as 2019-20 is, The Conversation’s team of 20 leading economists are in broad agreement that the outlook isn’t good. Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will also have to deal with the unexpected.
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Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The Conversation’s distinguished panel predicts unusually weak growth, dismal spending, no improvement in either unemployment or wage growth, and an increased chance of recession.
Not all landlords see their properties purely as investments. As welfare reforms take hold, some are starting to take greater responsibility for the well-being of their tenants.
Most new houses being built in Australia do no better than comply with the minimum energy performance required by regulations.
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Australia requires a minimum six-star energy rating for new housing. New homes average just 6.2 stars, so builders are doing the bare minimum to comply, even as the costs of this approach are rising.
A rally for affordable housing in Vancouver, Canada.
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From Berlin to New York, citizens from around the world have shown that it is possible to get governments to make affordable housing a priority.
Older private renters are far more likely to experience loneliness than their counterparts in social housing and that loneliness can be acute.
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‘People felt totally trapped’: what it’s like to be a pensioner renting privately as Australia’s housing costs soar
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On today's episode, Alan Morris shares some of the deeply moving stories he heard when he set out to interview older Australians in private rental accommodation and social housing about loneliness.
The public outrage at the killing of Courtney Herron, including a vigil in the park where her body was found, demands more than a knee-jerk response from government.
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The brutal killing of a young homeless woman has led to calls for more crisis accommodation. This is a short-term fix. We have to move beyond crisis management to sustained housing for people at risk.
Professor; School of Economics, Finance and Property, and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre, Curtin University
Professor of Social Epidemiology and Director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Housing at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne