Developing a workable model of housing need: Applying geographical concepts and techniques to a problem of public policy
Section snippets
Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS)
Decision Support Systems (DSS) have evolved since the late 1950s as promising means of addressing problems that challenge human decision makers but which contain an element of subjectivity, and therefore remain unsuitable for solely computer-based systems (Densham, 1991). DSS assist the decision process by presenting and structuring large volumes of complex information in a simple and interactive way. DSS support, rather than calculate, the outcome decisions. They allow the problem solver to
Understanding the distribution of housing affordability problems in South Australia
The South Australian Government (2004) regards households as experiencing housing stress if they are within the bottom four income deciles and are paying more than 25 per cent of their income in rent if they are a tenant, or if they are paying more than 30 per cent of their income for housing if they are a mortgagor. This definition is used throughout this paper as it reflects the policy position of the South Australian Government and is broadly concordant with the publicly accepted notions of
Extreme housing stress
Over 13,000 South Australian households (2.6 per cent) are in extreme housing stress, which is defined as a household in the bottom 40 per cent of the income distribution paying more than 50 per cent of income on housing. These households are concentrated in the metropolitan area where extreme housing stress is experienced by more than 10,000 households. This high level stress is largely localised within three areas of the city—the south, surrounding Port Noarlunga; the inner northwestern
The development of composite planning indicators for affordable housing
The preceding section has presented a picture of housing stress in South Australia, but it is important to note that housing need is a more complex concept than mere housing affordability. While it is difficult to respond to housing stress (affordability), it is much more complex for governments to respond to housing need because housing need is a concept that includes not just affordability, but appropriateness and adequacy (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1995). The attainment of
A model of housing need priority
An indication of the balance between the supply of and demand for affordable housing is presented in the Composite Indicator of Housing Need Priority. Two component datasets make up this indicator: the Composite Indicator of Housing Demand and the Composite Indicator of Housing Supply. Demand and supply indicators were combined by ranking each SLA for each composite indicator and then assigning a value between 1 and 5 indicating their relative ranking on a quintile by quintile basis. That is,
Conclusion
For the South Australian Government, as for other governments, the problem of housing need is complex and multi-dimensional. This paper shows that housing need varies greatly by location and tenure; in addition, it is influenced by numerous individual household characteristics. The creation of a Spatial Decision Support Tool, such as the one described in this paper is a promising mechanism for any large-scale landlord in seeking to formulate policies to address housing need. There is no one
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