Tony Gilmour

Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom: Innovation and Diversity in Australian Not-for-Profit Housing Organisations

Australian social housing policy continues to move away from a traditional hierarchical public housing model. The small but fast growing not-for-profit sector has expanded through the introduction of private finance, a tax credit scheme, stock transfers, planning incentives and an economic stimulus package. This article examines the diverse ways in which the leading not-for-profit providers in Australia have responded to these opportunities, using the concept of organisational hybridity. Coverage of hybridity includes both established housing providers and emergent third sector organisations including finance consolidators, development consortia and cross-subsidisation vehicles. Using information from interviews, organisational case studies and documentation, this paper assesses the drivers for the growth of hybridity in Australia. The policy implications for governments steering a diverse housing sector through promoting hybrid organisations are discussed, and reflections are provided on the opportunities and limitations of using hybridity analytical frameworks. An issue to emerge from the analysis is the diversity of organisational forms, financing models and strategic orientation of hybrid organisations promoted through the same policy settings.

The Invisible Hand? Using Tax Credits to Encourage Institutional Investment in Social Housing

Abstract Over recent decades many developed countries have commercialised the provision of state-subsidised housing, and introduced a stronger role for market forces. Government financial support now often aims to leverage debt or equity investment. Spearheading this policy change is a quest for the ‘Holy Grail’ of contemporary social housing policy: private equity investment, sourced from large institutional investors such as banks and pension funds. For comparative housing research, this opens up exciting new territory. Recent Australian developments using tax credits to incentivise investment – based on a successful US scheme – provide a valuable opportunity for comparison. This exploratory paper contrasts the two countries’ housing tax credit schemes, highlighting outcomes for investors, tenants and the wider housing system. Foregone corporate taxes provide governments with a powerful ‘invisible hand’ to incentivise flows of private equity, replacing direct public grants. Yet despite free market rhetoric, tax credit schemes still rely on additional government intervention - especially during financial market turbulence.

Social infrastructure partnerships: a firm rock in a storm?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use the example of public housing renewal public‐private partnerships (PPPs) to build knowledge on whether social infrastructure PPPs may appeal to the private sector as a less risky investment in a time of global financial uncertainty.Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on an international literature review and a limited number of semi‐structured interviews with social housing PPP participants in England, the USA and Australia. These interviews were conducted by Dr Gilmour as part of his doctoral research in 2008.Findings – The familiar distinction between social and other forms of infrastructure PPPs has been found to be unhelpful in the case of public housing renewal. This type of PPPs, through their cross‐subsidisation model, face relatively high revenue risk during a recession. However, the commitment of the public sector to the social goals of such projects suggests contract negotiation rather than default is likely if problems occur. PPP ris...

Transforming Australia's Social Housing: Pointers from the British Stock Transfer Experience

The expanding provision of affordable housing by non-profit community housing organisations, coupled with possibilities of substantial stock transfer from State Housing Authorities, suggest Australias social housing sector may be entering a transformative phase. Based on a review of restructuring in Britain, where over the last 25 years, traditionally owned and managed ‘council housing’ has been reduced from over 90 per cent to less than 30 per cent of overall social housing stock, this article considers possible policy implications for Australia. In particular, it analyses British experience which could inform Australian decisions on organisational size, institutional vehicles and governance structures within the context of the future programme of stock transfers envisaged by many commentators on the Australian housing scene.

Affordable Housing Strategies

This article is concerned with the institutional context of strategies to provide housing to meet the needs of those whose incomes are insufficient to obtain appropriate housing in the housing market otherwise. It describes a variety of approaches that have been adopted to providing affordable housing and identifies the roles and contributions of different institutions across the housing system, covering governments, private agencies, not-for-profit organisations, and intermediaries. Characteristics of the historic and contemporary contributions of each of these institutional groups to the provision of affordable housing are described, with examples from a range of countries and regions.