THE PREVALENCE OF RECENT ILLICIT DRUG USE: DOES HOUSING MATTER?

The relationship between residential occupancy and crime has previously been examined in the Australian context. The research has found that living in public housing does not per se increase offending once one accounts for the fact that offenders are generally more socially deprived and, as such, are more likely to be living in public housing. What has not been researched in Australia is whether there is any link between housing status and illicit drug use. This paper takes this up. The group being examined is police detainees who were interviewed through the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) project. DUMA collects data on drug use behaviour, criminal histories, and basic demographic data including usual place of residence. In isolation, differences in drug use between those living in private and public housing are statistically significant, but once a variety of social and other factors are controlled for, there is no significant effect of public housing on drug use. The results are thus consistent with a housing allocation position in which the co-incidence of more extensive drug use in public housing areas simply reflects the fact that more drug-users live there. 3Literature Review Much research has been done on the association between public housing and crime levels. I