Alternative housing models for precariously housed older Australians

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected various aspects of life and the majority of industries all over the world. While extant studies have reported the impact of the pandemic in various sectors and industries, the impact of the pandemic on global affordable housing and housing supply has not received sufficient attention. Therefore, this study provides a global comparative evaluation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the twin issues of affordable housing and housing supply. Google Scholar, Science Direct, ResearchGate and Primo Search were used in conducting database searches for previous studies published within the period of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2023). The framework of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was adopted in the systematic selection of 37 extant studies. Bibliometric, content and thematic analyses were conducted for the qualitative data analyses. Findings showed that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted various issues, viz: housing prices, demand and supply, socioeconomic gaps, housing construction activities, informal sector housing conditions, government housing policies, mortgage repayment defaults, multidimensional matters, increased digital nomads, and elderly housing supply. This study is unique in providing a systematic appraisal of extant studies to report the global implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on affordable housing and housing supply. Findings of the study are based on a systematic review of the literature. Indeed, the study offers a global perspective on the impact of the pandemic on the blighted affordable housing situation of different countries. Pertinent gaps in the existing literature and areas for further research were identified, alongside the recommendation of policy pathways for the future.

Objective: The massive uncontrolled development of residential properties especially in the Klang valley has resulted in a supply glut. According to economic theory, when supply exceeds demand, the price product price should decrease. However, due to the increased cost of construction materials and labour, house prices have not decreased. Consequently many in the Klang valley cannot affort to buy residential property causing financial stress to families with a household income below the average level. At the 19th National Housing and Property Summit 2016, Tan Sri Noh Omar the then Minister for Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Housing, announced an alternative home financing scheme offered through eligible housing developers licensed under the Money Lenders Act 1951 and Pawnbrokers Act 1972. The paper therefore explores factors influencing housing affordability stress and alternative schemes that could be offered by developers without unduly burdening the home buyer and ensuring a balance between the interests of the public and the developer. Methodology: The writers apply the method of documentary studies, historical archives, public record and interview to arrive at the findings. Results: The loan tenure would be between 10 to 20 years with the interest rate being fixed at 12% per annum for borrowers with collateral, and 18% for those without. It is noted that the section of public applying for such a scheme would be those whose monthly income and expenditure disqualify them from a 100% conventional loan. Consequently, one of the immediate issues for the borrower would be coping with the very high interest rates under this scheme. If a borrower were to apply under this scheme as a top-up to a conventional bank loan, there would be two monthly loan repayments to manage. Further if the second loan is without security he would be charged 18% interest leading to a real danger of potential insolvency. Further, no eligibility criteria has been set for developers to qualify for a licence. There is also the issue of a conflict of interest when a developer also acts as a financier. Implication: This research presents a conceptually yet empirically supported framework to describe the factors influencing housing affordability stress and alternative schemes that could be offered by developers by taking into consideration of the legal impact when the developers act as home loan financier to the borrowers. The study is particularly useful for housing industry by identifying the legal implication when the developers act as home loan financier to the borrowers. This paper gives valuable reference to law markers to consider whether this alternative is one of the solutions to solve housing affordability stress in Klang Valley area. JEL classification: H31

In this study I explore the world of older private renters in Sydney. I illustrate that for those older renters who are forced to live in unsubsidised privately rented dwellings, everyday life is extremely difficult and government policy in regards to providing affordable housing is seriously flawed. For most older private renters, financial stress is enormous and the most basic items are difficult to acquire. The level of hardship was determined mainly by the rent a person was paying and by family connections. Those residents who had managed to somehow acquire relatively cheap accommodation and who had strong family links were in a very different position to those who were paying a relatively high rent and had no family connections. A theme running through the study is that the Commonwealth Rent Assistance policy is not giving older renters access to affordable accommodation and the policy in regards to the provision of affordable housing has to be re-examined so as to allow those older Australians who are not homeowners or who have not managed to access public housing the chance to live out the last chapter of their lives in dignity.

Over two-thirds of Australians are owner-occupiers and a majority of the population holds most of their wealth in housing. Australian taxation privileges homeowners and retirement income policy is built around the assumption that state pensions can be kept low because an overwhelming majority of older Australians are outright homeowners and therefore have a considerable asset base and low housing costs post-retirement, a situation often referred to as ‘wealthfare’. However, ageing of the population and falling housing affordability mean that the number of asset-poor older Australians unable to rely on ‘wealthfare’ – lifetime renters or those who drop out of homeownership – is likely to grow in the future. In this paper we look at housing career pathways into precarious housing in older age, its impact on older Australians’ ontological security and coping strategies as they grapple with the housing circumstances that typically accompany asset poverty. Based on 30 interviews conducted with older Australians, the paper reports qualitative findings from a mixed methods research project conducted in Melbourne in 2009–2010.

Sub-divided units (SDU) and the similar type of tiny accommodation namely cage home and cubicle apartment have been existed in Hong Kong for a long period of time. Despite the factthat the living condition of those flats is usually undesirable, there are views in the community that there is demand in the market because these flats can provide affordable urban accommodation to those who are not eligible for Public Rental Housing (PRH) or those who wish to live in the urban area which is closer to their workplaces or their children's place of study at a cheaper rent.
\nThe repeated fire incidents happened in the tenement buildings consisted of SDU causing number of casualties has widely aroused the public concern about the safety of SDU. Although the HK government has been implementing measures since 2011 to tackle the problems of SDU, the number of people living in SDU has still greatly increased from 53,000 in 2007 to 171,300 in 2013, accounting for 2.4% total population of Hong Kong. In fact, the increase of SDU not only reflects that many low-income group cannot afford the high housing rent, but also many households are being forced into inappropriate or sub-standard accommodation. J Pynoons, R Schafer, C Hartman (2012) stated that the quality and location of housing affect the security, happiness, and stability of families, and have serious implications for the economic and social wellbeing of our urban areas. The problems arising from SDUs not only affect the individual of tenants, but also impose hazard to the building management, fire safety, building structure and social order.
\nDue to speculation and limited land supply, the problems of SDUs were still remained unsettled and the housing price has still been escalating to a higher recorded price causing shortage of adequate housing supply and thus the increase of rental price on housing. With rents escalating and Housing Authority waiting lists lengthening, low income households, particular the households who were not eligible to or awaiting for PRH were forced into inappropriate and sub-standard accommodation.
\nAlthough the government has formed a long Term Housing Strategy (LTHS) Steering Committee to look into the housing problems of grassroots families, it would not see the proposed measures shall immediately solve the housing problems, particularly in relation to SDUs within a short period of time. All the proposed measures require number of years to plan, discuss and compromise with different parties.
\nThe goal of this dissertation is to review the phenomenon of SDU and to study the reasons of trend of such phenomenon. Without a thorough understanding on the phenomenon of SDU and the reasons of trend, no proper measures shall be implemented to tackle the problems of SDU.
\nThe phenomenon of SDU shall be deemed to be the result of number of reasons relating to land supply and housing demand. The ever rising housing price, the attitude and direction of property developers, the housing policy towards affordable housing and the high cost of living are the factors affecting the supply and demand of affordable housing whereas decreasing vacancy in the private rental market, lack of funding, lack of private development of affordable housing, increasing rent prices, lack of long-term affordable housing planning and the absence of a comprehensive housing policy cause the supply of affordable housing cannot meet the increasing demand. Besides, the attitude of people who worried that affordable housing will increase traffic, reduce their property values and lack of safety in their communities, no one wants to be near or to have additional affordable housing in their communities. These attitudes further make the government difficult to find suitable locations for affordable housing.
\nBesides, various articles and news revealed that many people living in SDU are single parenthood, mental illness, disable and addiction to drugs and drink. However, there is no survey to reflect or indicate the real situation. Government should look into the real situation and to effect proper measures to tackle the problems of the above people.

Housing policy in Australia historically has focused on facilitating homeownership and creating some buffer for those households that are not homeowners. This paper explores the implications of this policy for older Australians. What is argued is that housing tenure has become a crucial divide and that older Australians who have not had the good fortune to access homeownership or public / community housing and who are dependent on the private rental sector as a result, often find themselves in desperate circumstances. The argument is developed that the failure to put in place a housing policy which would give all citizens the ability to access adequate and affordable housing, has led to a situation where a substantial and increasing number of older Australians have untenable housing costs and minimal disposal income. The article concludes that the present policy initiatives aimed at addressing the housing affordability crisis will have little impact on the situation of older people who are currently in housing stress.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the risk management process conducted by some private and not‐for‐profit affordable housing providers in South East Queensland, and draw conclusions about the relationship between risk assessments/responses and past experiences.Design/methodology/approachIn‐depth interviews of selected non‐government housing providers have been conducted to facilitate an understanding of their approach to risk assessment in developing and in managing affordable housing projects. Qualitative data are analysed using thematic analysis to find emerging themes suggested by interview participants.FindingsThe paper finds that informal risk management process is used as part of normal business process in accordance with industry standards. Many interviewees agree that the recognition of financial risk and the fear of community rejection of such housing projects have restrained them from committing to such investment projects. The levels of acceptance of risk are not always consistent across housing providers which create opportunities to conduct multi‐stakeholder partnership to reduce overall risk.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper has implications for developers or investors who seek to include affordable housing as part of their portfolio. However, data collected in the study are a cross‐section of interviews that will not include the impact on recent tax incentives offers by the Australian Commonwealth Government.Practical implicationsThe study suggests that implementing improvements to the risk mitigation and management framework may assist in promoting the supply of affordable housing by non‐government providers.Originality/valueThe focus of the study is the interaction between partnerships and risk management in development and management of affordable rental housing.

Affordable housing remains a major problem for National and County Governments as the increase in population, particularly low-income earners, rises significantly annually. It is evident that despite efforts from both the national and county governments, Kiambu County still lags in the provision of affordable housing. The housing development agenda seems not to be getting the required traction at the county level with little participation by the private developers. This paper therefore, aims to establish the constraints experienced in the effective implementation of affordable housing in Kiambu County. The research design adopted in this study was survey research whereby questionnaires were used. The target population is comprised of 60 real estate developers who have an intention or have ongoing projects in Kiambu County and 100 housing officers and sub-county planners from the department of lands involved in the policy-making of affordable housing in the Kiambu County government. A sample size of 67 was adopted and a response rate of 83 per cent was achieved. The study established that the provision of affordable housing in Kiambu County is faced with various challenges such as inadequate incentives by the government, limited building technology, ineffective housing policies, inadequate supporting infrastructure, lack of access to project finance, high cost of building materials, high cost of land, and lengthy approval process. These have led to the inadequate provision of affordable housing in the county. The key recommendations of this study include; shortening the process of approving building plans and acquiring the necessary permits, making efforts towards reducing the cost of local building materials such as building stones by reducing or scraping cess fees collected from trucks transporting building materials, and the provision of adequate incentives to developers of affordable housing in the county

Since the housing system reform in 1998, China’s commercial housing prices have risen rapidly, and far exceeded the affordability of commonality. In order to solve the housing problems of middle and low income families, China launched the construction of affordable housing, which has greatly improved people’s livelihood and social welfare. The impact of affordable housing supply on the real estate market is also related to the interests of social groups. How to understand the relationship between the two types of housing has become an important reference for building an internally coordinated and efficient housing supply system.Combined with China’s special housing security and land system, this study theoretically analyzes the possible impact of affordable housing supply on the commercial housing market by constructing the equilibrium model of supply and demand. Based on the panel data of 248 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2016, the FEM and IV models are used to test the theoretical hypothesis, and the mechanism and heterogeneity are further discussed.The results show that: In the statistical sense, we find that affordable housing crowds out commercial housing supply through the competitive allocation of land, but it cannot replace demand in the segmented housing market, which eventually raises housing prices. Furthermore, the crowding-out effect is more obvious in the regions with low land financial dependence. But the economic meaning of empirical results is weak, and the crowding-out effect and the impact of housing prices can be ignored. This means that the supply of affordable housing basically does not harm the welfare of other groups.In general, this study has strong policy implications. On the one hand, China should establish multi-agent supply channels. Collective construction land and idle land owned by enterprises can be used to build affordable housing to ensure the independence of the land supply mechanism. On the other hand, some cities can gradually relax the access restrictions on affordable housing according to the actual situation. They can provide talent housing for college graduates and professional and technical personnel, and provide affordable rental housing for urban “new citizens” and migrant workers, so as to effectively divert the demand for commercial housing and stabilize the price of commercial housing.

Housing is one of the basic needs of an individual and the quality of life of the individual and thus a basic component in determining the quality of life of an individual. Successive administrations in Nigeria have made efforts to increase the quantity of available housing stock without much success. The implementation of green building principles is an imperative in the provision of housing for the low/medium income households in Nigeria. Generally, green building developments are believed to be more costly than the conventional building developments, there is a lack of willingness to embrace green building principles. However a critical review of literature show a minimal increase in the initial cost of sustainable building projects with significant savings in future costs of such projects. The study also observed that high cost has been one of the challenges to the provision of affordable housing in Nigeria. Since the decision to build or not is greatly influenced by the perceived initial capital outlay, the lack of an appropriate tool to have a predictive knowledge of the cost of the intended project has been a clog in the wheel of green building development generally, Nigeria inclusive. Review of literature reveals that there are cost prediction tools that can be effectively used to assess sustainable building development. The chapter concludes that the use of predictive models will help to moderate the cost of intended green building projects thereby keeping within the affordable range of the intended owners. It is recommended that if these tools are adequately employed, it will influence the adoption of green building principles for the provision of affordable housing in Nigeria. The Artificial Neural Network is recommended for the development of cost models giving the minimal rate of percentage error associated with its use.

This study sought to understand the challenges in the provision of affordable and decent housing for low income earners in the capital city of Zimbabwe, Harare. Various challenges relating to housing provision were identified by the research participants. These related to regulatory barriers, lack of political will and commitment, financial challenges, lack of inter-agency coordination. The study concludes that provision of low-income housing remains a big challenge in Harare, which calls for a multi-sectoral approach to address. The study relied on qualitative methodology. Research participants were drawn from Harare City Council, the private sector non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government officials, and residents.

This research examined the barriers and challenges within the housing system for delivering housing supply that is more diverse in terms of size and built form; tenure; development model; and affordability level.

Evictions are a common contributing factor to homelessness and are experienced overwhelmingly by vulnerable populations, including low-income households, single parents, and minority groups. At the same time, social and affordable housing providers serve increasingly vulnerable populations. Although all evictions are potentially problematic, those that occur in social and affordable housing can carry particularly severe consequences. Little research exists on evictions in social and affordable housing, and there is even less on eviction prevention practices in this sector. This project seeks to fill this research gap by exploring emerging eviction prevention practices in social and affordable housing in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Our findings show that evictions are a complicated process for both tenants and housing providers, and most commonly occur because of rent arrears. Housing providers try to prevent evictions, and toward this end, they have adopted four broad eviction prevention practices, centered on financial management, regular communication with tenants, provision of tenant supports, and community development. However, housing providers are often constrained in their ability to prevent evictions, in particular by human resource and financial limitations. These challenges lead to complex negotiations between housing providers’ social mandates to provide affordable housing to vulnerable households and their regulatory and operational environments.

The private rental sector has always been an important part of the Australian housing system. Although declining in relation to home ownership in the two decades after the Second World War, private renting has never fallen below 20 per cent of the total housing stock, a share that it has maintained over the past 40 years. Small, scale petty landlordism has characterised this market sector, with a majority of rental stock owned by individuals. This paper summaries the specific characteristics of rental ownership in Australia, drawing on a recent national survey of landlords carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and identifies the key factors responsible for the persistence of this pattern of ownership. The reasons for the absence of institutional investors from this sector are then discussed, based on selective interviews with key players in the banking, insurance and superannuation industries. Current changes in market and policy environments are identified which may, however, increase the likelihood of institutional involvement in the provision of rental housing, in general, and social housing, in particular. The analysis is informed by the results of financial modelling carried out at the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

The aim of this paper is to compare structures of affordable housing provision in new large-scale housing projects in second-tier cities in Central and Eastern Europe. The paper builds on the conceptual framework of structures of housing provision to highlight complexities stemming from spatial conditions, structural processes reflected by housing policies at national and local levels, and relations between different stakeholders. The context for the analysis comprises first, the affordable housing question, which has gained importance in urban areas recently affected by multiple crises. Second, large-scale housing projects are seen as a response to the affordable housing shortage in differing contexts of state-market relations. The paper builds on a comparative case study approach of three new large-scale housing projects in less often studied cities in Central and Eastern Europe (in Lausanne, CH–Plains-du-Loup, in Leipzig, GER–Leipzig 416, and in Wrocław, PL–Nowe Żerniki). It draws on document analysis and expert interviews to provide an in-depth comparative case description based on primary and secondary data. We discuss how new large-scale housing projects, produced to provide affordable housing, are embedded in and filtered through structural contexts and domestic policy motivations but also have socio-spatial implications. In each of these cases, the process of providing affordable housing revolves around different aspects (space, multi-scalar processes, and stakeholders). Our analysis reveals that the affordability of housing depends on the interaction between public, private and civic factors, embedded within a neoliberal framework.