Rental-Insights-A-COVID-19-Collection - Flipbook - Page 30
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RENTAL INSIGHTS:
UNHEALTHY HOUSING
UNHEALTHY HOUSING
Wendy Stone
Swinburne University
of Technology
Key findings
Existing research has
focused on the impacts
of some aspects of the
living conditions
of Australia’s children.
This small but important Australian
evidence- base shows that housing
in which children grow up affects their
education, development, health—and
overall life chances. Children living
in households with low income are
particularly vulnerable to negative
impacts of housing- related affordability
stress, crowding and heightened/
forced residential mobility. International
evidence also suggests that the quality of
housing that children live in also matters.
Children and young people
are growing up in poor
quality
rental homes
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Until now, the data available to consider
the impact of housing conditions of
children’s home environment on their
wellbeing, development, education,
health and long-term outcomes has
been limited. Using the ARHCD we can
begin to ask important policy questions,
such as: ‘What proportion of children in
Australia are growing up in poor quality
housing conditions?’, ‘How does the
burden of exposure to poor quality
conditions differ for children living in
couple-headed families compared with
that for children living in single-parent
families, with typically lower relative
incomes?’ and ‘Are children living in very
low-income families better off in social
or private rental, from a housing quality
perspective?’.
Results are stark for children and families
living in rental housing in Australia.
Families with children are significantly
more likely to live with three or more
forms of housing condition problems
than households without children.
Among couple-headed families, new
data shows that 27 per cent live with
no problems, 17 per cent live with one
problem, another 17 per cent live with
two and that 39 per cent live with three
or more problem conditions. Rates are
higher for single parent-headed families,
with 26 per cent living with no housing
quality problems, 17 per cent reporting
living with one problem, 14 per cent with
two, and 44 per cent living with three
or more condition problems in their
rental homes.
Who is most affected?
Figure 1 shows that for all families with
dependent children living in private
(let from a real estate agent or person
outside the dwelling) or social housing
(renting from a state/territory housing
authority or community housing
provider), rates of reporting living
with three or more building condition
problems are high. In privately rented
dwellings 39 per cent of couple-headed
families with children and 42 per cent
of single parent-headed families report
this scale of building problem.
For families with children in social
housing, results are worse—close
to half of couple and single parent
headed families report multiple
building problems. In all rental types,
the most commonly reported problems
include: damp, mould, electrical/wiring
problems and plumbing.
