Housing and Health: Examining the Impacts of Generational Housing Reform on Vulnerable Urban Households

Abstract

Housing is the place we spend the majority of our lives and is well established as a key determinant of health, but the relationship between housing and health is complex and poorly understood. Regardless of the complexity of the relationship, it is clear that good housing and good health go together. This paper considers the health implications of the current process of generational reform to the way housing is provided to low income households in Australia and especially South Australia. In response to a gradual shift in Australian housing policy over recent years away from the public provision of housing, the South Australian Government recently announced a process of ‘generational reform’ to the public and low-income housing sector. Central to these reforms will be a loss of public housing, and an increased movement of low-income households into the private rental sector and low-income home ownership. Government policies aimed at housing necessarily affect the health of populations, and low-income households are especially vulnerable. This paper examines the relationship between housing and health and discusses implications of the current reform process in South Australia.