The Women’s Planning Network (WPN) has completed its research project for the development of a design ‘toolkit’ for affordable housing for women. Its paper, ‘Toolkit for Affordable Housing for Women’, researches housing affordability issues as they relate to women, with all project participants living within metropolitan Melbourne.
Background
The purposes of the research are:
- To deliver independent research into the barriers to affordable housing
- To place a particular focus on the housing needs of women – what is well located affordable housing for women?
- To produce practical tangible actions for best practice and policy and to influence the provision of affordable housing within Melbourne
This research project was commenced in 2005 following discussions amongst eminent women planners about the future planning and delivery of housing that meets the needs of women, particularly with respect to location and price, whether it is privately owned or rented. The research was developed in the context of Key Action 6.3 in Melbourne 2030 being, “to increase the supply of well-located affordable housing" and looks at why these particular aspects are important to women headed households and how planners, developers and women seeking homes can improve how, when and where appropriate housing is provided.
The research was completed in two stages: a scoping paper to identify key issues for detailed research, followed by a focussed exercise with the intent on producing practical actions.
WPN wishes to acknowledge that this research has been possible due to the grant support of the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
Stage 1 - Scoping Paper
WPN commissioned the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) at RMIT University to provide a scoping paper. The scoping paper addressed the following:- A brief summary of the policy context with regard to Federal, State and Local Government.
- A brief overview of what current research has been undertaken on the provision of housing for women and issues relating to affordability, safety, and spatial differences and the emerging needs within the Australian context.
- What are specific research topics that need to be addressed?
- Women are dependent on men to achieve finance for housing loans
- A policy shift is needed to positively discriminate housing policy in favour of women
- Access to home ownership is more difficult for women than men
- Expanding spatial polarisation of the housing market
- Decline in rental availability
- Women want a home not just a house
- Little research done to date with a gender focus
Stage 2 - A Toolkit for Affordable Housing for Women
As a result of the Scoping Paper, the research question became:To prepare a development design ‘toolkit’ for affordable housing for women that seeks to enable and facilitate better implementation of affordable housing through providing information and tools to planners, developers, service providers and the women themselves
WPN commissioned Beca Planning to undertake this stage of the research, which focussed on the affordability of housing for women-headed households in Melbourne, within the contexts and effects of policies and statutory controls.
This research would be used to inform policy on the preferred vision for affordable housing and to refer back to Melbourne 2030's Policy 6.1 in providing a response to the question of 'what is well located affordable housing?'.
The scope for this work had particular focus on single women and women headed households' access to affordable private rental and affordable home ownership.
The tangible result of the research became the 'Toolkit for Affordable Housing for Women', which may be used by key stakeholders in the planning arena to improve women's access to affordable housing in Melbourne.
A key outcome of the Toolkit is the three ‘Practice Notes’ intended to provide information and tools for use by planners, developers and service providers to achieve better affordable housing outcomes (with a focus on the needs of women though it is recognised that many sectors of the male population face difficulties in securing and maintaining affordable housing). It is intended that the practice notes will assist in the understanding of current housing affordability issues, particularly as they relate to women, and provide a means for assessing developments in relation to Policy 6.1 of Melbourne 2030 , State Planning Policy 16.05, and the ‘Towards an Integrated Housing Strategy’ Victorian Government policy document.
WPN intends to engage with local government and service providers to promote the use of the Practice Notes in policy making, implementation and housing provision.
- March 2006 - Stakeholder Workshops
To ensure that the toolkit is as practical as possible, Beca Planning ran a series of workshops with key stakeholders in the planning arena - women, planners and developers - and explored the following questions:
- What does it mean to be well located?
- What are the barriers to accessing affordable housing?
- What are the opportunities that could be explored? - May 2006 - Draft Report and Practice Notes produced.
- June 2006 - Presentation to the London Women & Planning Forum conference on 'Women, planning and design international perspectives', 21st June 2006. WPN committee members Bronwen Hamilton, Lecki Ord and Melinda Wealands made a presentation of the findings from last year's scoping paper and the results of the current research. Click here to view the seminar website.
- December 2006 - Final Report produced
- September 2007 - Tailoring and production of the Practice Notes. These will be released to state and local government, private practice planners and housing providers, and developers for their use.
Downloads
>> Scoping Paper (PDF file - 1.1 MB)>> A Toolkit for Affordable Housing for Women - Final Report (PDF file - 2.7 MB)
Practice Notes
>> For Planners (PDF file - 313 KB)
>> For Developers (PDF file - 316 KB)
>> For Service Providers (PDF file - 311 KB)