Dire consequences: waiting for social housing in three Australian states

AbstractAlthough tens of thousands of households are on the waiting-list for social housing in Australia, little is known about how they experience waiting for social housing. Drawing on 75 interviews conducted with people on the waiting-list (waitees) in three Australian states, we examine the impact of waiting on waitees utilising the concept of triple precarity. Double precarity refers to the insecure employment and housing that a substantial proportion of low-income households are experiencing in the contemporary period. We argue that waitees experience triple precarity. Not only are waitees unemployed or intermittently employed and suffer from housing stress and insecurity, but they also have to endure endless waiting. This adds another challenging dimension to their already difficult lives. We show that besides the impacts of insecure housing and employment, waiting for social housing contributes to waitees’ dire living circumstances and quality of life, difficulty finding employment and poor health. Waiting for social housing has emotional and material costs.Keywords: Social housingwaiteesendless waitingtriple precarityAustralia Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 In Australia social housing is made up of public and community housing. The former is owned and controlled by state governments whereas community housing is owned and managed by community housing providers which are non-profit organisations.2 Waiting list implies that there is some order in the allocation process and waitees merely have to wait their turn. This is clearly not accurate. There is no clear queue and waitees often have no idea if or when they will access a social housing dwelling. However, we decided to use the more familiar term ‘waiting list’ rather than the less familiar ‘housing register’ which is now the term favoured by state governments in Australia.3 In March 2023 the full government Age Pension for a single person was $532 a week and for couples it was $802. The Disability Support Pension benefit was the same as the Age Pension. The unemployment benefit was much lower—$346 a week. In addition, depending on the rent paid, households reliant mainly on government benefits are entitled to rent assistance. The maximum rent assistance in March 2023 was $78.60 a week for a single person and $74 for couples.4 There were no differences in the way waitees experienced waiting in the respective jurisdictions. Also, whether they were in a regional or metropolitan area did not have an impact. The pervasive scarcity of housing in all three states meant that the waiting experience was similar.5 When interviewed in March 2023, Natasha was still in the same accommodation. The landlord had postponed his demolition plan for the moment.6 Superannuation was introduced in 1992. An employer has to contribute a proportion of an employee’s salary into a ‘super fund’. The fund is supposed to provide for a person’s retirement.7 For a substantial proportion of waitees employment is not possible due to them having a disability that makes employment impossible or being retired and on the government Age Pension.8 ParentsNext is a government support service for parents whose children are under 6 and who receive the government’s parenting payment. It helps parents ‘plan and prepare for future study or employment’.Additional informationFundingThis study was funded by the Australian Research Council.Notes on contributorsAlan MorrisAlan Morris is based in the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at the University of Technology Sydney. His most recent books are The Private Rental Sector in Australia: Living with Uncertainty (co-authored with Kath Hulse and Hal Pawson); Gentrification and Displacement: The Forced Relocation of Public Housing Tenants in Inner-Sydney (Springer, 2019) and The Australian Dream; Housing Experiences of Older Australians (CSIRO Publishing, 2016). He is the lead Chief Investigator for an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery project looking at eviction in the private rental sector and an ARC Linkage project examining the circumstances of applicants on the social housing waiting list and the impacts of waiting https://waitingforsocialhousing.com/2021/09/10/203/.Catherine RobinsonCatherine Robinson is an Australian academic, sociologist and social justice activist. She has a long-held commitment to qualitative research and advocacy in the areas of homelessness, complex trauma and social care. Catherine is also known for her work with Blackfella Films as Series Consultant and Co-Host of the SBS documentary Filthy Rich and Homeless and she is a Board Director of Homelessness Australia and the Youth Network of Tasmania. Catherine is currently Associate Professor in Housing and Communities, School of Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) where she is UTAS Centre Director for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. Her recent work focuses on understanding the experiences and support system needs of children and young people who experience high vulnerability, including unaccompanied homelessness and mental ill-health. She is currently leading the UTAS Rough Sleepers Initiative, a collaborative impact project focused on improved responses to rough sleeping in Tasmania. Catherine was initially involved in the Waiting for Social Housing project for Anglicare Tasmania’s Social Action and Research Centre where she was a social researcher before transferring to UTAS.Jan IdleJan Idle’s research spans social policy in housing insecurity, child abuse, domestic violence, disability and aged care; cultural and Australian Studies. Jan’s current projects are with people with intellectual disability, looking at their experience of everyday harms as Research Fellow at Flinders University; and with people on the social housing waitlist in my position as Research Officer on the Australian Research Council Waithood project, at the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at UTS.