Australia’s largest social housing evaluation to date has found that a 10-year reform program resulted in more housing provision and better tenant experience. And while there was less evidence of progress toward an objective of reducing reliance on social housing, there was increased housing stability for older tenants and improved employment outcomes for younger tenants.
The New South Wales (NSW) Government’s Future Directions for Social Housing, originally commenced in 2016, was evaluated by a research consortium led by the Melbourne Institute (The University of Melbourne), involving experts from CEI, the Culturally Inclusive Research Centre Australia (CIRCA), RMIT University and Monash University. The evaluation’s final report has recently been released, which encompasses outcome, economic and implementation evaluations.
“This fulsome, three-year evaluation sought to understand whether Future Directions is achieving its objectives – for whom and under what circumstances – as well as what policy factors influenced the strategy’s development and implementation, and whether and how tenants’ interests and perspectives were reflected,” explains Dr Vanessa Rose, CEI Director.
“Future Directions is changing the social housing landscape in NSW in multiple ways. There are useful lessons in this experience for social housing strategy in other jurisdictions.”
What were the key findings?
The final report synthesises findings across the three Future Directions programs, which provide housing that is: 1) new or redeveloped and government-owned, 2) new and non-profit owned, contracted to government, and 3) government-owned, with management transferred from government to non-profit entities).
The report also synthesises findings across five Service Improvement Initiatives that aim to improve tenant opportunities and support, with a view to incentivising them to avoid or depart social housing.
Key findings from the outcome evaluation:
- Strong progress in the provision of more social housing, particularly through the public-private partnership driven Social and Affordable Housing Fund (SAHF). There was slower than anticipated progress with new/redeveloped government-owned housing, with the majority of homes to be delivered in coming years.
- Consistent progress across all programs and initiatives in terms of improving the social housing experience.
- While there was less evidence of progress in encouraging social housing avoidance or exit, the research team found that for older tenants there was improved housing stability (also an objective for this group). Separately, the “Rent Choice” Service Improvement Initiative (a rental subsidy for up to three years) did make strong progress in social housing avoidance: 9,822 families were supported in the private rental market, reducing their likelihood of applying for housing assistance and homelessness services.
- Future Directions’ various contributions to improving employment outcomes, educational opportunities and earning capacity of tenants (particularly younger tenants) may contribute to future social housing exits.
Key findings on strategy development and implementation, and the inclusion of tenant perspectives:
- Future Directions was broadly shaped by factors known to enhance policy impact: strong financial and political support, policymakers’ deep commitment to the success of the initiative, and extensive stakeholder engagement across government and the community housing sector.
- But, in the strategy’s development, there was limited use of research evidence on social housing policies shown to be effective in improving tenant outcomes.
- To reflect the NSW Government’s commitment to public participation, future housing policy should consider:
- Enabling tenants to provide input into ideas as they evolve rather than only in the early stages (to encourage policymakers to provide justification for decisions made at different stages)
- A variety of methods for engaging tenants, to ensure a diverse range of voices and experiences are recorded
- A need for greater transparency in communicating which aspects of tenant input were included in the strategy which were not feasible and why
- That tenants’ day-to-day lives and futures that are affected substantially by strategy outcomes
- Key areas for improvement in implementing Future Directions were:
- Reducing staff movement and restructures during major policy implementation
- Expanding policy goals to take a wider system view of barriers and enablers (such as affordability of private rentals) in the goal of increasing tenant exit to private housing
- Increasing the use of research evidence on effective policy in the development of social housing policy, programs and implementation
- The non-profit Community Housing Providers (CHPs) proved a good fit for the strategy’s delivery – they are well connected to the service sector, have a clear view of the reform’s objectives, and strong interest in opportunities within social housing. But an unintended impact is that CHPs have now become larger, changing the industry landscape, and potentially reducing competitiveness and driving inequality among housing providers.
- Contractual and program complexity was a standout concern for stakeholder organisations (CHPs, developers and councils) across all three Future Directions programs.
What were some other key lessons learned?
- Based on this current evaluation, it is not clear which models of social housing provision are most effective; more time is needed to assess longer term impacts.
- There are no quick fixes for the multiple challenges faced by social housing tenants.
- Increasing social housing supply is a slow process, but better communication with local government and the wider community could reduce delays.
- Good housing management and tenant support are important for the satisfaction and wellbeing of tenants.
- It is important to have easily understood social housing programs with straightforward and streamlined application processes.
- Complexity in contracts for the supply social housing has negative impact for tenants.
- Lead-in time to build relationships, trust and rapport with individuals and other agencies in the community is vital to success.
- Engaged housing management staff and service providers who establish strong, trusting relationships with tenants and participants, and who can build strong partnerships and coordination among local service providers, support success.
- While Future Directions has offered sizeable benefits for tenants, current economic analysis suggests these benefits are outweighed by additional costs, when compared to other social housing.
The full evaluation report has recently been made available for download HERE
The Final Report for the Future Directions Strategy Evaluation was prepared by a research consortium led by the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic and Social Research at The University of Melbourne, and involved experts from CEI, the Culturally Inclusive Research Centre Australia (CIRCA), RMIT University and Monash University.
