Housing policy is legislation that is aimed at looking into ways of availing houses to the members of the public. Programs and initiatives are spearheaded by the government where the government intends to provide a long lasting solution to the housing issues in the country. Australia is a nation that has the interest of its citizens at heart, and it is for this reason that the government of Australia has a housing policy in place. The housing policy is aimed at providing reliable and affordable houses to the Australians. At the same time, the policy makes sure that the standards of the houses that are built for the citizens are monitored. An analysis of the Australian housing policy will be essential, and it will help to know the benefits of the policy as well as some of the areas that need attention.
The history of the housing policy runs back to the 1940s. The agenda of the government was to reconstruct the nation after the war. The motivation to have the housing policy was inspired by the aspect of Australia being a welfare state. A welfare state is a nation that is aimed at making sure that the well-being of its citizens is given the priority it deserves. In line with the aspect of Australia being a welfare state, the government had different reasons for establishing and enacting the policy (Bessant, Watts, Dalton, & Smyth, 2006). The first intention was to restore sanity in the construction industry by making sure that planning was in line with the future development plans of the country. The second intention was to protect the citizens of the nation. The government was aimed at making sure that the local investors considered the availability and affordability of houses. The government was involved in the process of drafting the policy and implementing it. As a result, it was evident that the government was aimed at making sure that the citizens access the houses and at an affordable price.
Housing policy governance in Australia has always been evident at both the national and subnational levels. The government of Australia was aimed at making sure that its initiatives reached all citizens. As a result, it was crucial to make sure that the policy is enforced from the national level and also the subnational level (Maddison & Denniss, 2013). The move makes sure that even the citizens who are in the grassroots are reached by the policy, and their issues that are related to the problems of housing are addressed. Therefore, the history of the housing policy shows how the government of Australia has always been committed to making sure that people who are in dire need of housing are helped despite their areas of residence.
The housing policy is an initiative that was begun by the government of Australia with the primary aim of providing affordable houses to its citizens. The policy came to be more effective back in the 1940s, and this was after the war, and therefore the government saw the need to make sure that the citizens would have a place to call home during the difficult times. There are different purposes as to why the government introduced the policy and worked hard towards making it a success. The first purpose was to monitor and manage planning in the country (Maddison & Denniss, 2013). Housing entails the construction of settlements that are supposed to play host to the residents. Therefore, it is essential to make sure that the settlements were in line with the architectural needs of the cities and town (Moore, Horne, & Morrissey, 2014). The second purpose of the policy was to avail houses to the citizens of Australia at a reasonable and affordable price. Housing is one of the basic needs in the lives of the human beings. However, it is a challenge to acquire a quality house at a lower price, and that made the government of Australia see the need to be involved in the process of availing affordable homes to the people of Australia. The housing policy brought different changes in the housing sector (Maddison & Denniss, 2013). The involvement of the government protected the citizens of the country from the private developers. The citizens were protected from the substandard and expensive housing. The taxation element of the social welfare model is evident in the housing policy. One of the ways that the policy made sure that affordability of the houses was promoted was by eliminating the taxes that come along to affect the cost of housing (Rowley, Ong, & Haffner, 2015). The government also works with other partners to make sure that cheap and quality houses are provided to the citizens.
The government is the authority that is behind the drafting and implementation of the housing policy. The government has different levels and structures. National and sub-national government levels are involved in the process of making sure that there are policies and at the same time, the policies are implemented at all levels of governments (Hogan, 2017). The national government plays the oversight role where it makes sure that the subnational levels of government implement the policy. The subnational levels of government make sure that the players on the ground are submissive to the policy.
The government is also practically involved in the implementation of the housing policy. The government allocates funds and budgets for settlements that are aimed at hosting the needy Australians. At the same time, the government works with the non-governmental organizations through contracts and partnerships. Australia is a welfare state, and that is one of the reasons why the government is always ready to work hand in hand with other stakeholders to make sure that housing challenges in the country are dealt with (Gurran & Ruming, 2016). When the government works with the private sector, it reduces the tax and that gives the private sector an opportunity to be able to provide cheap housing. However, the private partners must make sure to be in line with the designs that have already been provided in the policy. The housing policy advocates for the availability of cheap houses and this means that the government has to be involved (Bentley et al. 2016). The services provided are not a hundred percent free, but the costs are relatively low as compared to the same services which are provided by other stakeholders. The decision-making process of the policy is solely the government’s.
The housing policy is an initiative that targets the low-income earners. Affording a decent house is a challenge especially to the people who have a low-income. The reason behind it is associated with the fact that the cost of housing has been increasing globally (Miller & Orchard, 2016). Therefore, it is apparent that when a person has a low-income, he or she is exposed to homelessness. The demand for affordable housing has been increasing at an alarming rate. However, because the policy has not been implemented for every word, accessing the houses is also a challenge, and this is because of the scarcity of the houses.
The housing was established with the goal of making sure that the low income earners were well taken care of in terms of housing. At the same time, the policy was aimed at making sure that the private sector does not exploit the citizens (Gurran & Ruming, 2016). It is evident that the policy has done a recommendable job when it comes to housing the Australians but given the magnitude of the housing problems in Australia, the country has not been able to meet its goals entirely. The government has failed to increase its budgets in line with the increasing demand, and that has led to the problem escalating.
The housing policy is made at the federal level of governance. It is imperative to note that the government has an obligation to provide the citizens with their fundamental rights. Considering that shelter is a basic right, the federal government is given the more significant task of coming up with the policy. The other lower levels of government also have a crucial role when it comes to the policy. The subnational governments inform the national government of some of the aching matters which are evident on the ground. The information is helpful to the national government because the national government gets to know the areas that need more focus as opposed to others (Austin, Gurran, & Whitehead, 2014). The beneficiaries of the policy are the citizens of Australia. The role that they critically play when it comes to drafting the policy is public participation. Their contribution is embraced, and the government tries to do what it can within its power to meet their dire housing needs.
One of the challenges that are facing the housing policy is the aspect of inequality in the distribution of the benefits of the policy. The inequality aspect affects two different areas, the first area geographical and the second area is population (Gurran & Phibbs, 2015). The policy is aimed at benefiting all the citizens of Australia. Therefore, it means that there should be an equal distribution of housing projects in all geographical locations; however, that is not the case. At the same time, the policy was aimed at helping the needy in the society (Gurran & Ruming, 2016). A project that is aimed at reaching the needy should make sure that all the needy persons are targeted and reached. In the case of the Australian housing policy, not all people who were intended to benefit from the housing program have benefited. Some low-income earners are still struggling and at the same time there middle-income earners who are benefiting from the initiative (Beer et al. 2016). When it comes to the changes that have been made on the policy, eligibility is not one of them. The government has been looking into ways of making the policy more extensive and beneficial to the targeted population.
In its original context, the housing policy was supposed to cover the needs of people from all parts of the country. However, there have been challenges when it comes to equally distributing the effects of the policy to every part of the country (Parsell, Fitzpatrick, & Busch-Geertsema, 2014). The availability of affordable and quality housing is still a challenge in Australia, and that means that the services are not available to all people that need them (Cook, Davison, & Crabtree, 2016). The only barrier to the access of the services offered by the policy is accessibility. The demand in the housing sector has been increasing for the last few decades. On the other hand, the government has been faced with the challenge of making sure that there are available cheap and quality houses for all low-income earners.
The effectiveness of the housing policy is at its bests. Even though not all needy people have been able to access the affordable housing, the standards of the houses are not questionable, and the prices are favorable to people who have a low-income. The portability of the services is questionable (Chappell & Campbell, 2018). Australia is one of the nations that care for their citizens. Therefore, even though the country has not been able to meet the needs of all its needy citizens, it has a policy that stands out to be one of the best when compared to housing policies of other nations.
The consequences of the policy are to improve the living standards of the people of Australia and at the same time, to regulate the housing plans in the country. The founders of the policy had the intention of making sure that the Australians do not suffer in terms of housing. Alternatives that would bring positive changes in the housing policy are by engaging the subnational governments and equally distributing the programs to different areas of the country (Chappell & Campbell, 2018). At the same time, the government should increase the housing budget to make sure that there are enough houses for the needy people of Australia.
The housing policy has both positive and negative implications to social work practice. The positive implication is associated with the availability of houses for the low-income earners. Social workers have an obligation to help people access the services of the government (Wagner, 2018). Therefore, when the low-income earners approach the social workers, it becomes more comfortable for the social workers to be helpful by directing the needy clients to the housing departments or ministry (Chappell & Campbell, 2018). At the same time, when the needy people are exposed to services that meet their needs, it is evident that they desist from pressuring the government because their problems have been solved. The number of issues that the social workers deal with in a given day also reduces significantly. The negative implication is associated with the inequality in the distribution of the services (Van den Nouwelant, Davison, Gurran, Pinnegar, & Randolph, 2015). The housing policy has not been able to meet its goal in its entity. Therefore, there are still many issues that are influenced by the housing policy and they affect the lives of the Australians. When many issues are surrounding the population, it means that the social workers are faced with many challenges (Mee, 2017). The first challenge is the lack of a place to refer the citizens so that they can access the services they might need from the government. The second challenge is that the people in dire of need increase and this is because there are no viable solutions. As a result, the work of the social workers is made harder than it ought to be.
References:
Austin, P. M., Gurran, N., & Whitehead, C. M. (2014). Planning and affordable housing in Australia, New Zealand, and England: common culture; different mechanisms. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 29(3), 455-472.
Beer, A., Bentley, R., Baker, E., Mason, K., Mallett, S., Kavanagh, A., & LaMontagne, T. (2016). Neoliberalism, economic restructuring and policy change: Precarious housing and precarious employment in Australia. Urban studies, 53(8), 1542-1558.
Bentley, R. J., Pevalin, D., Baker, E., Mason, K., Reeves, A., & Beer, A. (2016). Housing affordability, tenure, and mental health in Australia and the United Kingdom: a comparative panel analysis. Housing studies, 31(2), 208-222.
Bessant, J., Watts, R., Dalton, T., & Smyth, P. (2006). Talking policy: how social policy is made. Allen & Unwin.
Chappell, J., & Campbell, N. (2018). The Housing Gap—Sydney, Australia. In Sustainable Development Research in the Asia-Pacific Region (pp. 293-304). Springer, Cham.
Cook, N., Davison, A., & Crabtree, L. (Eds.). (2016). Housing and Home Unbound: Intersections in economics, environment, and politics in Australia. Routledge.
Gurran, N., & Ruming, K. (2016). Less planning, more development? Housing and urban reform discourses in Australia. Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 19(3), 262-280.
Gurran, N., & Phibbs, P. (2015). Are governments interested in fixing the housing problem? Policy capture and busy work in Australia. Housing studies, 30(5), 711-729.
Hogan, M. (2017). NRAS and affordable housing provision. Planning News, 43(4), 22.
Maddison, S., & Denniss, R. (2013). An introduction to Australian public policy: theory and practice. Cambridge University Press.
Mee, K. J. (2017). Necessary welfare measure or policy failure: media reports of public housing in Sydney in the 1990s. In Social constructionism in housing research (pp. 117-141). Routledge.
Miller, C., & Orchard, L. (Eds.). (2016). Australian public policy: progressive ideas in the neoliberal ascendency. Policy Press.
Moore, T., Horne, R., & Morrissey, J. (2014). Zero emission housing: Policy development in Australia and comparisons with the EU, UK, USA, and California. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 11, 25-45.
Parsell, C., Fitzpatrick, S., & Busch-Geertsema, V. (2014). Common ground in Australia: An object lesson in evidence hierarchies and policy transfer. Housing Studies, 29(1), 69-87.
Rowley, S., Ong, R., & Haffner, M. (2015). Bridging the gap between housing stress and financial stress: The case of Australia. Housing studies, 30(3), 473-490.
Van den Nouwelant, R., Davison, G., Gurran, N., Pinnegar, S., & Randolph, B. (2015). Delivering affordable housing through the planning system in urban renewal contexts: converging government roles in Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales. Australian Planner, 52(2), 77-89.
Wagner, L. (2018). A Review of” Housing and home unbound: intersections in economics, environment, and politics in Australia,” Edited by Nicole Cook, Aidan Davidson, and Louise Crabtree.
Yates, J. (2016). Why does Australia have an affordable housing problem and what can be done about it?. Australian Economic Review, 49(3), 328-339.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download