Social exclusion and housing. Final Report

“Copyright 2003 AHURI Limited. Published version of the paper reproduced here with permission from the publisher.” This is the publisher's copryight version of this article, the original can be found at: http://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/51.This report presents the findings of a literature review undertaken by the AHURI Southern Research Centre that addresses the relevance of the concept of social exclusion for Australian housing policy. The review is premised on the assumption that because social exclusion is emerging as an important theme in Australian housing policy debate, it is worthy of greater exploration. In general terms, social exclusion is understood to denote a set of factors and processes that accentuate material and social deprivation. However, the point of this review was not to attempt to provide a single definition of social exclusion, or to undertake a review of studies concerned with the notion of measurement; this is a worthy project in its own right. In assessing the relevance of the concept of social exclusion for Australian housing policy questions, which are addressed include: 1. What are the origins of the concept of social exclusion? 2. How is the concept of social exclusion used and what are the various meanings ascribed to it? 3. How do social exclusion, housing tenure and housing policy interrelate? 4. What issues are associated with adopting the concept of social exclusion in housing policy? and 5. How applicable are the issues to Australian housing policy