A balancing act? : tenure diversification in Australia and the UK

Diversifying tenure on public housing estates, it is frequently claimed, helps to create a healthy social mix and leads to the establishment of balanced communities. This viewpoint stems from the perception that social and economic problems are reinforced on certain estates by the concentration of disadvantaged households. Residents in these areas, it is maintained, are isolated from the wider community, have fewer opportunities to gain education and employment, and are more likely to be engaged in anti-social behaviour or suffer their effects. Diversifying tenure, it is suggested, remedies these problems, creates 'social capital' and leads to a more sustainable social environment. While this perspective has reinforced the strategy of sale and transfer of stock in neighbourhood regeneration over the last decade in both Australia and the UK, much of the research evidence that exists, in both contexts, questions the effectiveness of the strategy. Conceptual difficulties are also apparent in current debates about the nature and role of social capital and the type of 'social cohesion' that is being aimed for. This presents particular difficulties to those wishing to empirically test policy outcomes.