Housing refers to the places in which people reside and transact their basic daily activities of life. Housing may be owned, rented, shared, or public; and people may live in them long, medium, or short term. The quality of the structures that house people are important, both to those who live there (in terms of their amenity) as well as to the community as it impacts on perception as to the prosperity of the community.
Utilities are the services connected to housing that provide basic requirements for modern living. These include power, gas, water, sewage, telecommunications, and waste removal. Quality and security of housing and utilities are both important.
Accessibility (affordability, availability, appropriateness) is the major principle for consideration. For example, 1) the diversity of size, type, zoning, layout, and location of homes and land to meet different needs; and 2) the affordability, availability to everyone (culture, gender, etc.) and proximity to services and resources to allow/encourage connections. Sustainability also plays a part as building in a sustainable way lessons utility costs, improves amenity, and liveability.
Current influences include the impact of government policy such as funding of solar energy. CoVid-19 has initiated a movement from urban to regional and rural Victoria creating more (although an uneven) housing demand, despite a concurrent drop in employment and income for many.
Personal Housing Stress-mortgage and rental payments >= to 30% income
Proportion of Households Living in Social Housing
The Regional Australia Institute ran a webinar on the housing situation in Regional Australia in 2021. Click the link to view the recording.
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