HOUSING POLICY IN AUSTRALIA

Running head: HOUSING POLICY IN AUSTRALIA
Housing Policy in Australia
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Introduction
A policy adopted under political or governmental setting for the welfare of the state is
known as the social policy. It is basically considered as the study of the social services. Social
policies influence the human welfare with help of legislation, guidelines, activities and
principles. It improves the quality of life of the people (Dss.gov.au, 2019). Social policy helps to
promote wellbeing through welfare system by redistribution of resources. Proper distribution of
rescores brings positive effects in the life of the people. It gives social protection for the people
of the society. It restores the security of the people through proper social policy. In order to,
provide social protection through social policy, government of Australia adopted housing policy
for the entire population of the country. It mainly facilitates the disadvantaged section of the
society. It provides them with social protection against the odd circumstances of the society. It
helps them in living a quality life by getting all the basic facilities (Carey & McLoughlin, 2016).
The housing policy of Australia mainly focuses on mentally challenged, unemployed, homeless
and disabled people. There are various attributes of the society, which acts in favour of housing
policy of Australia. Those attributes helps to achieve the desired outcome of the social policy.
On the other hand, there exists several factors, which acts against the housing policy of Australia.
Those hinders prevent from achieving the desired outcome of the social policy.
Housing policy in Australia
Housing is fundamental to all citizens of the Australia. Thus, the government is focused
on developing a proper housing policy, which especially helps the disadvantaged population of
the country (Treasury.gov.au, 2019). A number of key economic and social aspects of the society
is influenced by the housing market of the country. Hence, it is important to bring reform in the
housing market of the country. Housing plays a pivotal role from a social perspective. It enables

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the population to form families, participate in society and enjoy retirement. Housing policy
should be specially designed for the mentally challenged, unemployed, homeless and disabled
people. As they are unable to afford housing for themselves, government take initiatives in order
to provide affordable housing for them. Housing determines health and education outcomes of
the individuals. The employment has a significant impact on the housing market, as it determines
the affordability of the housing. Hence, it is in the central of welfare system of the Australia.
The role of the Australian government in housing market is worked at two levels. The
structural level is the first level. In this level, the policy framework to operate the overall market
is determined by the Australian government (Beer et al., 2016). At the second level of the
housing policy, government directly intervened into the market. The main reason behind the
government intervention is to reach appropriate outcome to the specific group of people of the
society, where the market is unable to provide appropriate outcome to all the people.
Government wanted to give special assistance to the disadvantaged people of the society. To
provide desired outcome of the housing policy to the disadvantaged group of people, government
intervened in the housing market. It gives protection to the disadvantaged group of people such
as mentally ill, homeless, unemployed and disables sections of the society (Arthurson, 2012).
The housing market in Australia is influenced by the local, state, territory and
commonwealth government at the structural level. To improve homelessness and housing
outcome of the country, government spend greater than 6 billion US dollars every year. The
responsibility of homelessness and housing are taken by the territory and state governments
(Gurran & Phibbs, 2015). The financial assistance provided by the Australian government to
housing sector includes Commonwealth Rent Assistance and the National Housing and
Homelessness Agreement (NHHA). Under the commonwealth rent assistance, government

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provide almost 4.6 billion US dollars per year for the eligible Australian population to pay their
rent. Moreover, under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA), government
give assistance of around 1.5 billion US dollars on yearly basis for the territories and states.
The main aim of the NHHA of Australia is to increase the accessibility of affordable and
secure housing for the Australians in the housing sector of the economy. To get funding under
the NHHA, the territories and states governments need to contribute to improved data reporting
and collection. In addition, the territories and state governments should also have publicly
available homelessness and housing strategies to avail funding from the Australian government
under the NHHA. The major target of the NHHA is jurisdiction specific priorities such as zoning
reforms, planning reforms, renewal of public housing stock and supply targets. It also facilitates
in delivering frontline homelessness services (Gurran & Ruming, 2016). Other than NHHA and
the Commonwealth Rent Assistance, government of Australia also undertook several other
homelessness and housing programs and agreements. These are Hobart City Deal, National
Rental Affordability Scheme and Building Better Regional Cities Program.
National Housing and homelessness Agreement
On 1st July 2018, National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) commenced
in order to eradicate the homelessness of the Australian population and gives them the access of
the affordable and secure housing in the country. Government of Australia provided financial
assistance of 1.5 billion US dollars every year to improve housing affordability in the society. In
2019-20, under the NHHA, an amount of 125 million US dollars dedicated particularly for
homelessness services (Ong, Wood & Colic-Peisker, 2015). This funding will be utilized by the
territories and states governments. There are wide range of rules and regulations in order to get
the NHHA funding from the Australian government. The territories and states adopts the