Urbanisation
Urban development & growth
- Migration from rural to urban areas
- Access to employment, education, health & other services
- A site for new forms of community
In Australia …
- Rural & urban areas developed simultaneously
- Australia described as a suburban nation (Sandercock 1977)
- The suburb is a transitional zone combined Town & Country
Australian suburbs
Historically …
- Suburbs were valorized as spacious, clean & promoted good health, moral conduct
- In contrast, urban ‘slums’ were problematised as crowded, polluted with residents subject to illness & immorality – slum clearance
- Suburbs developed as a solution to problems of housing shortage & unplanned urban development – public health issues & morality
Over time Australian suburbs have become
- A cultural icon – ‘Australian dream’
- A site of technological innovation – Victa lawn mower & Hills hoist
A sign of advantage or disadvantage
Housing matters
To demonstrate … let’s look at housing tenure
- Whether one owns or rents housing
- Literature shows that tenure produces inequality
- Home ownership is a status signifier
- Shared status as homeowners moves beyond class
Some implications
- Access to resources – wealth
- Security
- Lifestyle
- Identity
- Community
Homeownership
Government support for homeownership in Australia has a long history
- Prior to public housing the States offered various loans
- Low interest loans for public tenants to purchase dwelling – 1961 Menzies Government
- First home owners grant
- Taxation arrangements – negative gearing of investment properties
Home ownership is the privileged tenure in Australia
Homeowners
Let’s look at the assumptions …
Financial commitment (the mortgage)demonstrates
- A willingness & capability to accept responsibility
- A stake in locational community through the financial commitment
- Preconditions necessary to care for their home (employed, responsible, prudent etc)
Places made up of largely homeowners
- Assumed to be a community (see Cheshire et al. 2010)
Renting
Renting – private & public (social) rental
Renting viewed as a sign of a flawed housing consumer
- Unable to own (lacking financial prudence & hard work)
- Unable to meet housing needs through the market (state provision for public renter) (see Cheshire et al. 2010)
What about … renting by choice?
- To free up resources
- For lifestyle reasons
Renters
Let’s look at the assumptions …
Financial commitment
- Renters are not responsible or financially prudent enough to qualify for a mortgage
- Renting is a waste of money
- Rental homes are uncared for
What about ‘community’ ?
- Renters avoid a commitment to place
No stake in community
Public rental housing
Historically …
- Developed as a ‘solution’ or response to a housing shortage ‘problem’
- The first Commonwealth States Housing Agreement (CSHA) in 1945
- Housing is a right (CW Housing Commission 1944)
- Mass development of public estates (>100 dwellings)
- For example
- In Sydney the former Housing Commission of NSW drove the development of Western Sydney with suburbs such as Green Valley & Mt Druitt
- In regional areas in NSW – public estates developed on outskirts of Towns
Public rental housing
Historically …
- Developed as a ‘solution’ or response to a housing shortage ‘problem’
- The first Commonwealth States Housing Agreement (CSHA) in 1945
- Housing is a right (CW Housing Commission 1944)
- Mass development of public estates (>100 dwellings)
- For example
- In Sydney the former Housing Commission of NSW drove the development of Western Sydney with suburbs such as Green Valley & Mt Druitt
- In regional areas in NSW – public estates developed on outskirts of Towns
When the solution becomes the problem
- When constructed public estates lacked access to employment, services & transport – still an issue
- In 1970s the demand for housing increased (unemployment )
- In response authorities targeted access to public housing – ‘multiple & complex needs’
- Residualisation has produced social (welfare) housing
- Public estates are highly stigmatised places
- For example, media coverage of the Struggle Street documentary by SBS
Social Housing sector is undergoing massive changes
- Governance – government’s role & funding, sell off public assets
- Tenancy – conditions of tenancy – eligibility, duration, transitions to private rental
Themes ….
- Urban spaces are sites of inequality, BUT
- They are reinvented & reinterpreted
Today we’ve looked at two examples & the implications of each for changing forms of community
1.Assumptions around tenure & opportunities to access the benefits of being an owner-occupier
2.Public rental housing – a changing sector with an uncertain future
References
Cheshire, L, Walters, P & Rosenblatt, T 2010, ‘The Politics of Housing Consumption: Renters as Flawed Consumers on a Master Planned Estate’, Urban Studies, vol. 47, no. 12, pp. 2597-2614.
Connolly, J & Darab, S 2015, SOC10296 Understanding Community Study Guide, Southern Cross University, East Lismore.
Stevenson, D 1999, ‘Community views, women and the politics of neighbourhood in an Australian suburb’, Journal of Sociology, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 213-227.
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