The historical construction of ‘the public housing problem’ and deconcentration policies

From its inception, mass-produced public housing played a major role in the post-World War II (WWII) reconstruction and economic development of Australian cities. At this time public housing estates provided an efficient solution to a number of social, economic and political problems. These included a severe housing shortage, serious affordability issues, and trade skills and infrastructure deficits. Although consistently representing a very small proportion of total housing stock (4% as of 2006, AIHW 2009:5) when compared to European standards, and while it remained politically contested, up until the early 1990s Australian public housing provided affordable and secure housing for those households who could not afford to house themselves appropriately through owner occupation or private rental (Chapter 9). Some 70 yeas beyond its inception and despite it similar situation of chronic undersupply of housing in major cities, and the least affordable housing internationally, public housing in Australia is now perceived by many as highly problematic form of tenure which exacerbates or even produces social problems rather than ameliorating them (Arthurson 2012b). Mass-produced broad-acre estates containing concentrations of public housing are frequently characterised as incubators for crime and anti-social behaviour, residents' unemployment and poor educational outcomes (Pinnegar, Randolph and Davison 2011). Not just the policy of providing assistance through state owned housing, but its actual physical form and location is now widely described as a 'failed experiment' and has emerged as the target of a concerted campaign of reform and redevelopment (Troy 2011).