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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Human Geography | Public Health and Health Services | Urban and Regional Studies (excl. Planning) | Human Geography not elsewhere classified | Urban Policy | Epidemiology | Mental Health | Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified | Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified | Family and Household Studies | Health and Community Services | Care for Disabled | Urban Analysis and Development | Urban and Regional Planning not elsewhere classified | Public Policy | Urban and Regional Planning | Public Health And Health Services Not Elsewhere Classified | Economic Geography | Health Promotion | Health Information Systems (incl. Surveillance) | Urban And Regional Studies
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society | Social Structure and Health | Expanding Knowledge in Built Environment and Design | Mental Health | Demography | Residential Building Management and Services | Residential Construction Design | Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) not elsewhere classified | Public Services Policy Advice and Analysis | Disability and Functional Capacity | Public health not elsewhere classified | Social structure and health | Health Policy Economic Outcomes |
Related Links
Publications
Cold homes in Australia: Questioning our assumptions about prevalence
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
Exploring the Bi-directional Relationship between Health and Housing in Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-10-2013
The impact of social housing on mental health: longitudinal analyses using marginal structural models and machine learning-generated weights
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 26-06-2018
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYY116
Abstract: Social housing may provide an affordable and secure residential environment, but has also been associated with stigma, poor housing conditions and locational disadvantage. We examined the cumulative effect of additional years, and tenure security (number of transitions in/out), of social housing on mental health in a large cohort of lower-income Australians. We analysed a longitudinal panel survey that annually collected information on tenure and health from 2001 to 2013. To address the time-varying effect of previous health on social housing occupancy, we used marginal structural models. Stabilized inverse probabilities of treatment weights were generated using ensemble learning to improve prediction. To address remaining residual imbalance across covariates, double adjustment was made by additionally including baseline covariates in models. Mental health was measured using the Mental Health Short-Form summary measure of the SF-36 (MH), and psychological distress was measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). People who had continuous exposure to social housing had worse mental health on average than people continuously occupying other tenures. The worst mental health outcomes, however, were observed for people who made multiple transitions. Mental health deteriorated and psychological distress increased with number of transitions: MH -1.04 [95% confidence interval (CI) -2.16 0.09) and K10 0.56 (95% CI 0.12 1.00). Estimates are in the order of 6% (MH) and 9% (K10) of one standard deviation for each measure. The more transitions people made in/out of social housing, the greater the impact on mental health and psychological distress, supporting the case for provision of more stable forms of social housing.
Social Housing exit points, outcomes and future pathways: An administrative data analysis
Publisher: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)
Date: 03-2020
The effect of energy poverty on mental health, cardiovascular disease and respiratory health: a longitudinal analysis
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
An Australian geography of unhealthy housing
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-2019
Measuring Housing Affordability Stress: Can Deprivation Capture Risk Made Real?
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 23-04-2018
Housing Disadvantage and Poor Mental Health: A Systematic Review
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.AMEPRE.2019.03.018
Abstract: This study reviews collective evidence on the longitudinal impact of housing disadvantage (based on tenure, precarity, and physical characteristics) on mental health. It is focused on temporally ordered studies where exposures preceded outcomes, a key criterion to establishing causal evidence. A systematic review of evidence on housing disadvantage and mental health was performed. The literature search used six electronic databases including MEDLINE (PubMed and Ovid platform), Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, SciELO, and Sociological Abstracts. Population-based longitudinal studies where exposure to housing disadvantage (excluding exposure to homelessness) preceded mental health were included. Methodologic quality of selected studies was examined using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. Because of definitional and methodologic heterogeneity among studies, narrative synthesis rather than meta-analysis was used to summarize research findings. Of the 1,804 unique titles identified in the literature search, 12 met the selection criteria for inclusion in the systematic review. Housing disadvantage was measured by overcrowding, mortgage delinquency, housing mobility, housing tenure, subjective perceptions of inadequate housing, eviction, and physical housing conditions. Mental health was measured as depression, psychological impairment, anxiety, allostatic load, mental strain, and psychological health. Study s le sizes ranged from 205 to 16,234 people, and the follow-up period ranged from within 1 year to 34 years. Each study indicated a positive association between housing disadvantage and mental health for at least one housing disadvantage measure and mental health outcome. This systematic review confirms that prior exposure to housing disadvantage may impact mental health later in life.
Housing inequality: a systematic scoping review
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-09-2022
Intersections between disability, type of impairment, gender and socio-economic disadvantage in a nationally representative sample of 33,101 working-aged Australians
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.DHJO.2014.08.008
Abstract: People with disabilities are socio-economically disadvantaged and have poorer health than people without disabilities however, little is known about the way in which disadvantage is patterned by gender and type of impairment. 1. To describe whether socio-economic circumstances vary according to type of impairment (sensory and speech, intellectual, physical, psychological and acquired brain injury). 2. To compare levels of socio-economic disadvantage for women and men with the same impairment type. We used a large population-based disability-focused survey of Australians, analyzing data from 33,101 participants aged 25-64. Indicators of socio-economic disadvantage included education, income, employment, housing vulnerability, and multiple disadvantage. Stratified by impairment type, we estimated: the population weighted prevalence of socio-economic disadvantage the relative odds of disadvantage compared to people without disabilities and the relative odds of disadvantage between women and men. With few exceptions, people with disabilities fared worse for every indicator compared to people without disability those with intellectual and psychological impairments and acquired brain injuries were most disadvantaged. While overall women with disabilities were more disadvantaged than men, the magnitude of the relative differences was lower than the same comparisons between women and men without disabilities, and there were few differences between women and men with the same impairment types. Crude comparisons between people with and without disabilities obscure how disadvantage is patterned according to impairment type and gender. The results emphasize the need to unpack how gender and disability intersect to shape socio-economic disadvantage.
Housing at the frontline of the COVID-19 challenge: A commentary on “Rising home values and Covid-19 case rates in Massachusetts”
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
Exploring the determinants of residential satisfaction in public rental housing in China: a case study of Chongqing
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-07-2019
Precariously placed: housing affordability, quality and satisfaction of Australians with disabilities
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 22-12-2019
Housing niches: new directions for housing and urban policy
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 24-10-2023
The Shifting Risk of Homelessness among Persons with a Disability: Insights from a National Policy Intervention
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 07-09-2020
Abstract: Persons with a disability are at a far higher risk of homelessness than those without. The economic, social and health challenges faced by disabled people are addressed, in Australia, by the recently implemented National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Using nationally representative, longitudinal household panel data, we construct the Index of Relative Homelessness Risk (IRHR) to track how the risk of homelessness for disabled persons has changed since the introduction of the NDIS. We find that, overall, fewer persons with a disability face moderate risk of homelessness but that many more face high risk. We conclude that the NDIS has not effectively protected disabled people from the risk of homelessness. We reflect on the implications of these findings for policy interventions.
An Australian rental housing conditions research infrastructure
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-02-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-022-01136-5
Abstract: Each year the proportion of Australians who rent their home increases and, for the first time in generations, there are now as many renters as outright homeowners. Researchers and policy makers, however, know very little about housing conditions within Australia’s rental housing sector due to a lack of systematic, reliable data. In 2020, a collaboration of Australian universities commissioned a survey of tenant households to build a data infrastructure on the household and demographic characteristics, housing quality and conditions in the Australian rental sector. This data infrastructure was designed to be national (representative across all Australian States and Territories), and balanced across key population characteristics. The resultant Australian Rental Housing Conditions Dataset (ARHCD) is a publicly available data infrastructure for researchers and policy makers, providing a basis for national and international research.
Developing a workable model of housing need: Applying geographical concepts and techniques to a problem of public policy
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2007
Is Housing a Health Insult?
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 26-05-2017
Urban Social Housing Pathways: A Linked Administrative Data Analysis
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 18-11-2021
Exploring the well-being of renters during the COVID-19 pandemic
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-02-2023
The Gender Gap: A Review of Publishing Practices in Urban Policy and Research
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-03-2022
The Relative Risk of Homelessness among Persons with a Disability: New Methods and Policy Insights
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 06-11-2019
Abstract: This paper reports on the first phase of an ambitious program of research that seeks to both understand the risk of homelessness amongst persons with a disability in Australia and shed light on the impact of a significant policy reform—the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)—in changing the level of homelessness risk. This first paper, reports on the level of homelessness risk for persons with a disability prior to the introduction of the NDIS, with a subsequent paper providing updated data and analysis for the period post the implementation of the NDIS. In one sense, this paper provides the ‘base’ condition prior to the introduction of the NDIS but also serves a far broader role in advancing our understanding of how disability and chronic ill-health affects the risk of homelessness. Our research finds that in the period prior to the introduction of the NDIS, a large proportion of people with disabilities were at risk of homelessness, but those whose disabilities affected their schooling or employment were at the greatest risk.
Association between housing affordability and mental health: A longitudinal analysis of a nationally representative household survey in Australia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 05-08-2011
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWR161
Abstract: Evidence about the mental health consequences of unaffordable housing is limited. The authors investigated whether people whose housing costs were more than 30% of their household income experienced a deterioration in their mental health (using the Short Form 36 Mental Component Summary), over and above other forms of financial stress. They hypothesized that associations would be limited to lower income households as high housing costs would reduce their capacity to purchase other essential nonhousing needs (e.g., food). Using fixed-effects longitudinal regression, the authors analyzed 38,610 responses of 10,047 in iduals aged 25-64 years who participated in the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (2001-2007). Respondents included those who remained in affordable housing over 2 consecutive waves (reference group) or had moved from affordable to unaffordable housing over 2 waves (comparison group). For in iduals living in low-to-moderate income households, entering unaffordable housing was associated with a small decrease in their mental health score independent of changes in equivalized household income or having moved house (mean change = -1.19, 95% confidence interval: -1.97, -0.41). The authors did not find evidence to support an association for higher income households. They found that entering unaffordable housing is detrimental to the mental health of in iduals residing in low-to-moderate income households.
Cold housing: evidence, risk and vulnerability
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-11-2021
Alcohol and tobacco consumption: What is the role of economic security?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-01-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.15400
Abstract: To better understand the longstanding inequalities concerning alcohol and tobacco use, we aimed to quantify the effect of household economic security on alcohol and tobacco consumption and expenditure. Longitudinal analysis using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (2001–2018). Australia A nationally representative cohort of 24 134 adults aged 25–64 years (187 378 observations). Tobacco and alcohol use (Yes/No), frequency of use of each per week, household expenditure on each per week, household weekly income (Consumer Price Index [CPI]‐adjusted), employment security (based on conditions of employment) and housing affordability (housing costs relative to household income). At baseline, one‐quarter of the s le used tobacco and 87% used alcohol. Annual increases in household income were associated with the increased use of both tobacco and alcohol for people in households in the lowest 40% of the national income distribution (OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.03–1.23 and OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.04–1.20, respectively) with no similar income effect observed for higher‐income households. In relation to smoking, the odds of a resident's tobacco use increased when their household was unemployed (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.07–1.62). In relation to alcohol, the odds of use decreased when households were insecurely employed or unemployed, or housing costs were unaffordable (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.77–0.98, OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.55–0.80 and OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.75–0.93, respectively). This was also reflected in the reduced odds of risky drinking (defined in accordance with Australian guidelines) when housing became unaffordable or households became unemployed (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.81–0.99 OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.69–0.98, respectively). In Australia, smoking and drinking appear to exhibit different socio‐behavioural characteristics and household unemployment appears to be a strong determinant of smoking.
Renting in the time of COVID-19: Understanding the impacts
Publisher: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)
Date: 15-10-2020
Cold housing environments: defining the problem for an appropriate policy response
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-07-2023
DOI: 10.1057/S41271-023-00431-8
Abstract: Researchers across disciplines are increasing attention to cold housing environments. Public health, environmental and social sciences, architecture, and engineering each define and measure cold housing environments differently. Lack of standardisation hinders our ability to combine evidence, determine prevalence, understand who is most at risk––and to formulate policy responses. We conducted a systematic, cross-disciplinary review of literature to document the measures used. We examined benefits and limitations of each approach and propose a conceptualisation of cold housing: where temperature is too low to support optimal health and wellbeing of inhabitants, measured using one or a combination of economic, ‘objective’, or subjective approaches. More accurate data on home temperatures for all population groups, combined with an understanding of factors leading to cold homes, will enable appropriate policy response to reduce adverse health effects and costs. Policies targeting better building standards and energy subsidies both improve temperature conditions in housing environments.
Understanding the mental health effects of instability in the private rental sector: A longitudinal analysis of a national cohort
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2022.114778
Abstract: Using a population-based longitudinal dataset in Australia over nearly 20 years, this study examines the impact of tenure instability on mental health and psychological distress among a low-income working-age population. The analysis compares private renters (who are notable for their relative tenure insecurity in the Australian context) and homeowners with similar sociodemographic characteristics. To enhance group comparability and address the presence of time-varying covariates that confound and mediate the relationship between tenure exposure and mental health, marginal structural models were used applying weights estimated cumulatively over time. The results show that while private rental tenants report worse mental health than homeowners initially (mental health difference: Beta = -5.29, 95%CI -7.61 to -2.97 psychological distress difference: Beta = 1.77, 95%CI 0.55 to 2.99), this difference diminishes to become statistically indistinguishable by 5-6 years of occupancy (mental health difference at year 6: Beta = -2.09, 95%CI -4.31 to 0.13, predicted mental health increases: from 65.06 to 69.83 for private renters and from 70.46 to 72.02 for homeowners psychological distress difference at year 5: Beta = 0.81, 95%CI -0.09 to 1.71, predicted psychological distress decreases: from 19.85 to 18.04 for private renters and from 17.95 to 17.10 for homeowners). Residential stability is particularly beneficial for private renters in early middle adulthood (35-44 years), with each additional year of stable occupancy for private renters correlated with a 0.99 (95%CI 0.46 to 1.53) increase in mental health and a -0.47 (95%CI -0.69 to -0.24) decrease in psychological distress. The findings provide evidence that stable and secure rental tenure is protective of mental health, and the mental health of stable renters becomes comparable to that of homeowners over time. This adds support for housing policies that promote and improve the stability and security of rental tenure.
Warm, cool and energy-affordable housing policy solutions for low-income renters
Publisher: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)
Date: 23-09-2020
Housing Assistance
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 07-2013
Abstract: In Australia, an increasing number of households face problems of access to suitable housing in the private market. In response, the Federal and State Governments share responsibility for providing housing assistance to these, mainly low-income, households. A broad range of policy instruments are used to provide and maintain housing assistance across all housing tenures, for ex le, assisting entry into homeownership, providing affordability assistance in the private rental market, and the provision of socially owned and managed housing options. Underlying each of these interventions is the premise that secure, affordable, and appropriate housing provides not only shelter but also a number of nonshelter benefits to in iduals and their households. Although the nonshelter outcomes of housing are well acknowledged in Australia, the understanding of the nonshelter outcomes of housing assistance is less clear. This paper explores nonshelter outcomes of three of the major forms of housing assistance provided by Australian governments—low-income mortgage assistance, social housing, and private rent assistance. It is based upon analysis of a survey of 1,353 low-income recipients of housing assistance, and specifically measures the formulation of health and well-being, financial stress, and housing satisfaction outcomes across these three assistance types. We find clear evidence that health, finance, and housing satisfaction outcomes are associated with quite different factors for in iduals in these three major housing assistance types.
Does employment security modify the effect of housing affordability on mental health?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2016
Housing and health: an updated glossary
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 27-06-2022
Abstract: Recent crises have underscored the importance that housing has in sustaining good health and, equally, its potential to harm health. Considering this and building on Howden-Chapman’s early glossary of housing and health and the WHO Housing and Health Guidelines, this paper introduces a range of housing and health-related terms, reflecting almost 20 years of development in the field. It defines key concepts currently used in research, policy and practice to describe housing in relation to health and health inequalities. Definitions are organised by three overarching aspects of housing: affordability (including housing affordability stress (HAS) and fuel poverty), suitability (including condition, accessibility and sustainable housing) and security (including precarious housing and homelessness). Each of these inter-related aspects of housing can be either protective of, or detrimental to, health. This glossary broadens our understanding of the relationship between housing and health to further promote interdisciplinarity and strengthen the nexus between these fields.
Housing affordability and residential mobility as drivers of locational inequality
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2016
Housing affordability and mental health: Does the relationship differ for renters and home purchasers?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2013.06.023
Abstract: There is increasing evidence of a direct association between unaffordable housing and poor mental health, over and above the effects of general financial hardship. Type of housing tenure may be an important factor in determining how in iduals experience and respond to housing affordability problems. This study investigated whether a relationship exists between unaffordable housing and mental health that differs for home purchasers and private renters among low-income households. Data from 2001 to 2010 of the longitudinal Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey were analysed using fixed-effects linear regression to examine change in the SF-36 Mental Component Summary (MCS) score of in iduals aged 25-64 years, associated with changes in housing affordability, testing for an interaction with housing tenure type. After adjusting for age, survey year and household income, among in iduals living in households in the lower 40% of the national income distribution, private renters in unaffordable housing experienced somewhat poorer in mental health than when their housing was affordable (difference in MCS = -1.18 or about 20% of one S.D. of the MCS score 95% CI: -1.95,-0.41 p = 0.003) while home purchasers experienced no difference on average. The statistical evidence for housing tenure modifying the association between unaffordable housing and mental health was moderate (p = 0.058). When alternatives to 40% were considered as income cut-offs for inclusion in the s le, evidence of a difference between renters and home purchasers was stronger amongst households in the lowest 50% of the income distribution (p = 0.020), and between the 30th and 50th percentile (p = 0.045), with renters consistently experiencing a decline in mental health while mean MCS scores of home purchasers did not change. In this study, private renters appeared to be more vulnerable than home purchasers to mental health effects of unaffordable housing. Such a modified effect suggests that tenure-differentiated policy responses to poor housing affordability may be appropriate.
Housing and health: a time for action
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-04-2023
Cold homes and mental health harm: Evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2022.115461
Abstract: Cold homes are associated with a range of serious health conditions as well as excess winter mortality. Despite a comparatively mild climate cold homes are a significant problem in the UK, with a recent estimate finding that over one-quarter of low-income households had been unable to adequately heat their home in winter 2022. The magnitude of cold housing in a country that benefits from a mild climate indicates indifference towards, or acceptance of, a significant minority of people living in inadequate conditions on the part of policy makers. Cold homes are therefore a source of social harm. Recent changes to the household energy price cap, the rising cost of living, the ongoing effects of the benefit cap, and below inflation uprating to social security benefits is likely to greatly exacerbate this issue. In this research we use data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study to explore whether living in a cold home causes mental health harm. We control for mental distress and housing temperature on entry to the survey in order to account for the potentially bi-directional relationship. Multilevel discrete-time event history models show that the transition into living in a home that is not suitably warm is associated with nearly double the odds of experiencing severe mental distress for those who had no mental distress at the beginning of the survey and over three times the odds of severe mental distress for those previously on the borderline of severe mental distress. These results show the significant costs of failing to ensure that people are able to live in homes in which they are able to live comfortably by even the most basic standards. These costs will be felt not just in idually, but also more broadly in terms of increased health spending and reduced working.
Invited Commentary: Harnessing Housing Natural Experiments Is Important, but Beware Differential Misclassification of Difference in Difference: Table 1.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 08-09-2016
DOI: 10.1093/AJE/KWW053
Abstract: In this issue of the Journal, Reeves et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2016 (6):421-429) present the findings of a natural experiment analyzing the association between reduced housing affordability and mental ill health. Their difference-in-difference analysis of cross-sectional, quarterly population health surveys administered before and after implementation of a policy to reduce Housing Benefit payments in the United Kingdom in April 2011 represents an important way to assess the impact of a national housing policy shift on public health. It is a well-conducted study harnessing a natural experiment and adds to the weight of evidence supporting an association between housing costs and mental health. However, quantitative bias analysis based on the reported findings suggests that a small amount of differential (by unblinded Housing Benefit status) misclassification bias in the outcome may be enough to explain the observed association. Our analysis of possible misclassification bias in the outcome used in the study highlights the need for caution when a difference-in-difference estimate is small, the population is not blinded to its postintervention exposure status, and the outcome measure is subjective and prone to differential (by unblinded exposure or treatment status) misclassification.
The ‘double precarity’ of employment insecurity and unaffordable housing and its impact on mental health
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2019.02.008
Abstract: This paper describes who is most likely to experience household employment insecurity and housing affordability stress - double precarity - and estimates the degree to which housing affordability mediates the effect of employment insecurity on mental health. We use a cohort of 24,201 participants in 2016 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (6.2 repeated measures on average). We estimate the likelihood of onset of household employment insecurity, housing affordability stress and change in housing costs using longitudinal regression analyses for socio-demographic groups. We assess mediation by estimating how much exposure variable coefficients attenuate with inclusion of a mediator in fixed effects regression models. We also apply causal mediation methods to fixed-effects regression models to better account for exposure-mediator interaction and meet strict model assumptions. If people's households become insecurely employed, there are five times greater odds of them also experiencing housing affordability stress (OR 4.99 95%CI 4.21-5.90). Key cohorts within the population are shown to be especially vulnerable to double precarity - notably single parents (OR 2.91, 95%CI 1.94-4.35) and people who live alone (OR 4.42, 95% CI 3.03-6.45) (compared to couples), and people who are recently separated or orced (OR 2.59, 95%CI 1.81-3.70). Mediation analysis confirms that household employment insecurity has a small, negative effect on mental health (Beta -0.24, 95%CI -0.38-0.11 on a 1 to 100-point scale with 10-point standard deviation). Estimates from casual mediation analyses suggest housing affordability accounts for 20% of the total effect likely concentrated in the lowest and highest strata of income. Employment and housing insecurity represent a form of double precarity for people in households with a single income. When we consider the impact on mental health, we find evidence of a causal relationship between insecure employment onset and mental health, around one fifth of which is mediated by changing housing cost and onset of affordability stress.
Mental health and prolonged exposure to unaffordable housing: a longitudinal analysis
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-03-2020
The Mental Health Effects of Housing Tenure: Causal or Compositional?
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 29-04-2025
Abstract: Housing tenure sits at the heart of much academic and policy literature across many post-industrial countries, and, while debate is often centred on promoting tenure choice, surprisingly little is known of the underlying ways that the tenure chosen can affect health. While population characteristics tend to vary between tenure types, this largely reflects the forces of broader social and economic selection into those tenures. This paper examines what identifiable effect tenure has upon the mental health of in iduals, over and above the characteristics of selection. The analysis is based upon 40 828 responses of 10 245 in iduals in the Australian working-age population who participated in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia study between 2001 and 2007. It is found that, while mental health varies significantly between tenure types, once tenure population differences are accounted for there is little evidence of an intrinsic relationship between tenure and mental health.
Housing affordability and mental health: an analysis of generational change
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 15-08-2022
Housing tenure and affordability and mental health following disability acquisition in adulthood
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2016.01.010
Abstract: Acquiring a disability in adulthood is associated with a reduction in mental health and access to secure and affordable housing is associated with better mental health. We hypothesised that the association between acquisition of disability and mental health is modified by housing tenure and affordability. We used twelve annual waves of data (2001-2012) (1913 participants, 13,037 observations) from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. Eligible participants reported at least two consecutive waves of disability preceded by two consecutive waves without disability. Effect measure modification, on the additive scale, was tested in three fixed-effects linear regression models (which remove time-invariant confounding) which included a cross-product term between disability and prior housing circumstances: housing tenure by disability housing affordability by disability and, in a sub-s le (896 participants 5913 observations) with housing costs, tenure/affordability by disability. The outcome was the continuous mental component summary (MCS) of SF-36. Models adjusted for time-varying confounders. There was statistical evidence that prior housing modified the effect of disability acquisition on mental health. Our findings suggested that those in affordable housing had a -1.7 point deterioration in MCS (95% CI -2.1, -1.3) following disability acquisition and those in unaffordable housing had a -4.2 point reduction (95% CI -5.2, -1.4). Among people with housing costs, the largest declines in MCS were for people with unaffordable mortgages (-5.3, 95% CI -8.8, -1.9) and private renters in unaffordable housing (-4.0, 95% CI -6.3, -1.6), compared to a -1.4 reduction (95% CI -2.1, -0.7) for mortgagors in affordable housing. In sum, we used causally-robust fixed-effects regression and showed that deterioration in mental health following disability acquisition is modified by prior housing circumstance with the largest negative associations found for those in unaffordable housing. Future research should test whether providing secure, affordable housing when people acquire a disability prevents deterioration in mental health.
Measuring Housing Affordability: A Longitudinal Approach
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 21-05-2015
Housing affordability, tenure and mental health in Australia and the United Kingdom: a comparative panel analysis
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 20-08-2016
Neoliberalism, economic restructuring and policy change: Precarious housing and precarious employment in Australia
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-07-2019
Abstract: Housing, employment and economic conditions in many nations have changed greatly over the past decades. This paper explores the ways in which changing housing markets, economic conditions and government policies have affected vulnerable in iduals and households, using Australia as a case study. The paper finds a substantial number and proportion of low income Australians have been affected by housing and employment that is insecure with profound implications for vulnerability. Importantly, the paper suggests that in Australia the economic gains achieved as a consequence of mining-related growth in the early 2000s were translated as greater employment security for some on low incomes, but not all. Enhanced access to employment in this period was differentiated by gender, with women largely missing out on the growth in jobs. For the population as a whole, employment gains were offset by increased housing insecurity as accommodation costs rose. The paper finds low income lone parents were especially vulnerable because they were unable to benefit from a buoyant labour market over the decade 2000–2010. They were also adversely affected by national policy changes intended to encourage engagement with paid work. The outcomes identified for Australia are likely to have been mirrored in other nations, especially those that have embraced, or been forced to adopt, more restrictive welfare and income support regimes.
Modelling housing need in Australia to 2025
Publisher: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)
Date: 02-08-2017
Cold housing in mild-climate countries: A study of indoor environmental quality and comfort preferences in homes, Adelaide, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
Visualising 30 Years of Population Density Change in Australia’s Major Capital Cities
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-09-2016
Are housing circumstances associated with faster epigenetic ageing?
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 10-10-2023
Cumulative exposure to poor housing affordability and its association with mental health in men and women
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 11-11-2012
Abstract: Poor housing affordability affects around 10% of the Australian population and is increasingly prevalent. The authors tested two hypotheses: that cumulative exposure to housing affordability stress (HAS) is associated with poorer mental health and that effects vary by gender. The authors estimated the relationship between cumulative exposure to HAS and mental health among 15478 participants in an Australian longitudinal survey between 2001 and 2009. In iduals were classified as being in HAS if household income was in the lowest 40% of the national distribution and housing costs exceeded 30% of income. Exposure to HAS ranged from 1 to 8 annual waves. Mental health was measured using the Short Form 36 Mental Component Summary (MCS) score. To test the extent to which any observed associations were explained by compositional factors, random- and fixed-effects models were estimated. In the random-effects models, mental health scores decreased with increasing cumulative exposure to HAS (up until 4+ years). This relationship differed by gender, with a stronger dose-response observed among men. The mean MCS score of men experiencing four to eight waves of housing stress was 2.02 points lower than men not in HAS (95% CI -3.89 to -0.16). In the fixed-effects models, there was no evidence of a cumulative effect of HAS on mental health however, lower MCS was observed after a single year in HAS (β=-0.70, 95% CI -1.02 to -0.37). While average mental health was lower for in iduals with longer exposure to HAS, the mental health effect appears to be due to compositional factors. Furthermore, men and women appear to experience cumulative HAS differently.
Social housing temperature conditions and tenant priorities
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-04-2023
DOI: 10.1002/AJS4.267
Abstract: The social housing sector provides housing to some of society's most vulnerable people, disproportionately housing people with disabilities and chronic health conditions, the aged and people unable to work. These groups are often more susceptible to health impacts from poor temperature conditions within their home. In this paper, we examine temperature conditions in Australian social housing, explore tenant experiences and reflect on possible remediation responses. Using a novel contact‐free delivery protocol for data collection, temperature was measured in 36 social housing dwellings over a 3‐month springtime period. Semistructured interviews were conducted with occupants to better understand their experience of (adverse) indoor temperature conditions. On average, participants spent 35 per cent of time across the study period in temperatures outside the WHO guidelines (18–24°C). Most participants perceived their homes to be cold or very cold during periods of cold weather, and many considered energy unaffordable. Building conditions, such as poor sealing around windows and doors, lack of insulation and inadequacy of space heating appliances, were of greatest concern to participants. Participants' preferences for remediation work suggest that considerable benefit could be gained from making homes more energy efficient through draft sealing and insulation.
Do financial hardship and social support mediate the effect of unaffordable housing on mental health?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-09-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-019-01773-Z
Abstract: Unaffordable housing has a negative impact on mental health however, little is known about the causal pathways through which it transmits this effect. We examine the role of financial hardship and social support as mediators of this relationship. We identified households where housing costs changed from affordable to unaffordable across two waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (2014-2015). The sequential causal mediation analysis was used to decompose the total effect of unaffordable housing on mental health into the portion attributable to financial hardship and social support [natural indirect effect (NIE)] and the portion not occurring through measured pathways [natural direct effect (NDE)]. Mental health was measured using the Mental Health Inventory (MHI) and Kessler psychological distress (KPD) scale. Baseline covariates included age, sex, household income, financial hardship, social support, marital status and employment status. Bootstrapping with 1000 replications was used to calculate 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Multiple imputations using chained equations were applied to account for missing data. Unaffordable housing led to a change in mean mental health score on the MHI scale (- 1.3, 95% CI: - 2.1, - 0.6) and KPDS scale (0.9, 95% CI: 0.4, 1.4). Financial hardship accounted for 54% of the total effect on MHI scale and 53% on KPD scale. Collectively, financial hardship and social support explained 68% of the total effect on MHI scale and 67% on KPD scale, respectively. In conclusion, the negative mental health effect of unaffordable housing is largely mediated through increased financial hardship.
Australian rental housing standards: institutional shifts to reprioritize the housing–health nexus
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-04-2023
Leadership and Change in Sustainable Regional Development
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 10-09-2012
The impact of persistent poor housing conditions on mental health: A longitudinal population-based study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.YPMED.2017.09.020
Abstract: Living with housing problems increases the risk of mental ill health. Housing problems tend to persist over time but little is known about the mental health consequences of living with persistent housing problems. We investigated if persistence of poor housing affects mental health over and above the effect of current housing conditions. We used data from 13 annual waves of the British Household Panel Survey (1996 to 2008) (81,745 person/year observations from 16,234 in iduals) and measured the persistence of housing problems by the number of years in the previous four that a household experienced housing problems. OLS regression models and lagged-change regression models were used to estimate the effects of past and current housing conditions on mental health, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire. Interaction terms tested if tenure type modified the impact of persistent poor housing on mental health. In fully adjusted models, mental health worsened as the persistence of housing problems increased. Adjustment for current housing conditions attenuated, but did not explain, the findings. Tenure type moderated the effects of persistent poor housing on mental health, suggesting that those who own their homes outright and those who live in social housing are most negatively affected. Persistence of poor housing was predictive of worse mental health, irrespective of current housing conditions, which added to the weight of evidence that demonstrates that living in poor quality housing for extended periods of time has negative consequences for mental health.
Reducing everyday consumption: Mapping the landscape of grassroots social movements and activist households in Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2022
Housing Policy, Housing Assistance and the Wellbeing Dividend: Developing an Evidence Base for Post-GFC Economies
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-2011
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