Processes influencing low income housing: Proceedings of the Joint CSIRO-AHRC Seminar on Low Income Housing, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 31 July 1978

For several years the Australian Housing Research Council (AHRC) has funded research on a range of housing-related topics including house design and construction, access to housing and related services, urban planning and management, and housing policy analysis. A review of completed projects revealed sets of studies with strong underlying connections along particular themes. The CSIRO-AHRC seminar afforded the opportunity to bring AHRC-funded researchers and others who have undertaken research in related areas, face to face with representatives of State and Federal housing authorities, for whom the research is often undertaken. The collection of papers in the present volume addresses, from several perspectives, the broad theme, 'processes influencing low income housing'. The first two chapters deal with economic issues connected with access to housing among low income groups (for instance, the relative merits of public housing versus income transfers tied to either rental or ownership property in the private housing market). The three chapters which follow, are concerned with identifying the redistributive effects associated with the construction of new dwellings in both the public and private housing markets. Chapters 6 and 7 focus more particularly on the changing nature of the housing market in inner city areas---an area which continues to house a significant proportion of low income households. The eighth chapter concludes by examining the value systems of urban residents, as they pertain to aspirations for housing---a question of relevance to the public as well as private housing market.