The FD project provides rigorous evaluation to ensure social housing has positive outcomes on tenants.
The problem
Housing is increasingly unaffordable for large groups of renters. Social and affordable housing that has positive impacts on tenants is needed. In 2016, the Future Directions (FD) Strategy was introduced, outlining the NSW state government’s vision for social and affordable housing from 2016 to 2025. Three major programs were introduced: Social and Affordable Housing Fund, Land and Housing Corporation Future Directions Implementation Projects, and Social Housing Management Transfer. The first two programs aimed to deliver new / renewed social housing sometimes targeting specific groups (such as older people, or women and children escaping domestic violence), while the latter program involves a transfer of all existing (often older) public housing in specific areas to community housing providers. So, is it working?
The research
Led by the Melbourne Institute, a consortium of five research organisations evaluated the Strategy, drawing on up to three years of linked administrative data on tenants’ outcomes after entering an FD tenancy. Evaluation included assessing implementation and impacts on tenants for each of the programs and the Strategy overall, and a cost-benefit analysis for each program.
The impact
Early results show that new or renewed high-quality social housing provided tenancy stability and lowered the probability of homelessness; improved employment outcomes of tenants under 55 and Aboriginal tenants; led to fewer contacts with the justice system and instances of domestic violence reporting for male tenants, tenants under 55, tenants in major cities, and Aboriginal and culturally and linguistically diverse tenants; and seemed to increase tenants’ satisfaction across a range of domains (from health to personal relationships). As well as providing evidence on the FD Strategy, the methodologies and data linkages used in the project can be replicated, and thus provide a framework for future evaluations to assess whether these effects remain and/or strengthen in the longer term.
Department: Melbourne Institute
Area: Social housing
Commissioning organisation:
New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice
Reports
Researchers
Sustainable Development Goals
We align our research activity with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).