Background paper 4: Women and housing in Greater Sydney

Transcription

1 Background paper 4: Women and housing in Greater Sydney Prepared for the Sydney Women s Fund by Alison Ziller and Elizabeth Delaney January 2012

2 PAGE 2 This Portrait Background Paper was prepared for the Sydney Women s Fund by Alison Ziller Director, Australia Street Company, Pty Ltd PO Box 873 Neutral Bay, NSW 2089 aziller@bigpond.net.au and Elizabeth Delaney Principal, Community Dimensions Pty Ltd PO Box 234, The Junction, NSW 2291 e.delaney@bigpond.com Australia Street Company Pty. Ltd. and Community Dimensions Pty. Ltd Permission is granted for fair use of the material contained in the Portrait and the Background Papers providing all quotes are in quotation marks and the source is stated, including where relevant, the sources used in citations. The Sydney Women s Fund, Chair Rosalind Strong, is part of the Sydney Community Foundation. With thanks to the members of the project s Reference Group: Sue Boaden, Amanda Bray, Louise Crabtree, Emily Fuller, Elaine Henry, Josephine Majewski and Margo Rawsthorne, and to the Sydney Women s Fund s Executive Officer, Kristi Mansfield.

3 PAGE 3 BACKGROUND PAPER 4: WOMEN AND HOUSING INTRODUCTION Housing has a significant impact on women s health and well-being. It forms a substantial component of expenditure and shapes community identity as well as impacting on access to education, employment and services, and aspects of social and civic engagement. A study undertaken by Hanover Welfare Services 1 titled Precarious housing and health inequalities: what are the links? identifies an inextricable link between housing and health:! The literature synthesis undertaken as part of this project identified five inter-related housing elements: housing hardware, housing space, place, housing tenure and housing affordability.! The study found that housing could negatively affect health outcomes in a variety of ways and that housing and health are clustered and the relationship between health and precarious housing is graded. As health worsens the likelihood of living in precarious housing increases (p7).! Particular groups are more susceptible to precarious housing including lone parents and singles, older private renters, children living with lone parents and people living in public rental.! The study found that 4% of the Australian population was living in unsuitable housing and that public renters had the highest likelihood of living in poor-quality dwellings. In particular, lone parents and singles were more likely to be living in unsuitable housing. Lone parents and single people were also more likely to be in insecure tenure.! Precarious housing impacts negatively on mental health. For example, for lone young mothers, precarious housing creates or contributes to poor health, particularly anxiety and depression (p 3). Affordability is a major impediment to obtaining and maintaining housing for lone young mothers. 1 Hanover Welfare Services, 2011 Precarious housing and health inequalities: what are the links, University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide, Melbourne City Mission, 20Housing_Summary%20Report_web.ashx

4 PAGE 4 There is a lack of gender based research relating to housing in Sydney and in Australia more generally. This has meant that this Background Paper draws on a number of broader research documents. The lack of a gendered approach to housing has resulted in a renewed call for a housing policy, which addresses the needs of women. In this context the Equality Rights Alliance 2 is collaborating with Economic Security 4 Women, the National Rural Women s Coalition and the National Foundation for Australian Women on a project to monitor trends in women s housing security and explore options for improving access by women to affordable housing. What is clear from the literature is that women will be a significant section of the economically disadvantaged population into the future. Tually, Beer and Faulkner 3 in a paper titled Too Big To Ignore, Future Issues for Australian Women s Housing note that housing affordability will remain an on-going issue and may give rise to increases in violence against women and homelessness. The selected indicators for housing in this Background Paper are:! Housing Stress - mortgage! Rental Housing! Women in Single Parent and Lone Person households! Homelessness! Housing needs of recently arrived refugees HOUSING STRESS - MORTGAGE Housing stress is measured in various ways but most often it is based on the ratio of individual housing costs to income and what is known as the 30/40 rule, namely: households in bottom 40% of income distribution (with less than 80% of median income) spending more than 30% of income on mortgage repayments. A report prepared by NATSEM titled The Great Australian Dream Just a Dream? 4 notes that single persons and single parent households are at the greatest risk of housing stress, and Sydney 2 Equality Rights Alliance in collaboration with Economic Security 4 Women, the National Women s Coalition and the National Foundation of Women, 3 Tually S, Beer A, and Faulkner B, 2007, Too big to ignore, Future Issues for Australian Women s Housing , AHURI Southern Research Centre, 4 Ben Phillips, The Great Australian Dream Just a Dream?, AMPNATSEM Income and Wealth Report Issue 29,July

5 PAGE 5 is the most stressed city on all measures, with 9.4% of Sydney households paying more than 50% of their income in housing costs and 11% of lower income households paying more than 30%. The NATSEM report also considers affordability in terms of those suburbs that are affordable to the typical household in Sydney for both 2001 and 2011 Refer Maps 1 and 2. The report notes: Sydney started the decade as the worst capital city for affordability and ended the decade in exactly the same way. The other capitals are catching up, though Sydney remains the most unaffordable with nearly three in four SLAs severely unaffordable to the typical Sydney household. Sydney s only affordable SLA is Blacktown in the western suburbs with a median price of $305,000. MAP 1 MAP 2 Source: AMPNATSEM Income and Wealth Report Issue 29,July

6 PAGE 6 In summary, Sydney house prices are so high that they are unaffordable for many and particularly lone person households and sole parents the greater proportion of which are women. Almost no parts of the greater Sydney area can now be classified as affordable. The impact of un-affordability is also seen in Map 3 and Figure 1 prepared by the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) which depict households in mortgage stress in Mortgage stress in terms of the map and the graphic relates to households in bottom 40% of income distribution (with less than 80% of median income) spending more than 30% of income on mortgage repayments. MAP 3: LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS WITH MORTGAGE STRESS 2006 FIGURE 1 : HOUSING STRESS MORTGAGE HOLDERS 2006 Source: PHIDU,

7 PAGE 7 Figure 1 shows the number of households with mortgage stress as a proportion of all mortgaged private dwellings. Again, the proportions of households experiencing mortgage stress increases with the level of socio-economic disadvantage and the map shows this particularly affects people in lower socio-economic areas. PHIDU estimates that the proportion of households in mortgage stress in Sydney in 2006 was 9.1% with a strong socio-economic gradient more than three times the number of households (15.8%) in disadvantaged areas experience mortgage stress compared with the least disadvantaged areas (4.9%). R ENTAL HOUSING Kimberley and Simons 5 in a study of ageing undertaken for the Brotherhood of St Laurence identified the issues surrounding older females in rental accommodation: The data collected in this report tell us that, in Australia in 2009, excluding the Indigenous population, one of the most disadvantaged demographic profiles for a person to have is to be old, single, poor, female and in private rental accommodation. (p 47) As with most housing data, data related to rental housing is not gender disaggregated. In this context, The Equality Rights Alliance notes that given women s generally lower incomes than those of men (influenced by the gender wage gap, and intermittent and part-time work-force attachment as well as occupational segregation into lower income industries), it is evident that women will tend to be clustered in the lower income deciles, and presence in these is a feature of renters. 6 Map 4 shows people receiving rent assistance from Centrelink they are shown as the proportion of households. The highest proportions receiving rent assistance are located in central areas of the City, West and South West of the City and the Central Coast. Figure 2 provides analysis undertaken by PHIDU which shows a strong economic gradient with almost three and a half times the number of households receiving rent assistance in the most disadvantaged areas compared with the least disadvantaged. 5 Kimberley H and Simons B, 2009, The Brotherhood s Social Barometer 6 Equality Rights Alliance in collaboration with Economic Security 4 Women, the National Women s Coalition and the National Foundation of Women,

8 PAGE 8 MAP 4: HOUSEHOLD IN DWELLINGS RECEIVING RENTAL ASSISTANCE FROM CENTRELINK 2008 Source: PHIDU, FIGURE 2 SYDNEY RENT ASSISTANCE FROM CENTRELINK 2008 Source:

9 PAGE 9 Almost three and a half times the number of households receive rent assistance in the most disadvantaged areas (20.9%) compared with the least disadvantaged, a geography even more evident in the distribution of public housing. MAP 5 : % OCCUPIED DWELLINGS WHICH ARE RENTED FROM HOUSING AUTHORITY 2006 Source: PHIDU, The distribution of public rental housing is an indicator of the distribution of single parents, those who are unemployed, aged or with a disability and particularly women in these categories. High proportions of public housing residences are located in the West and South West of the region. (Map 5). The Public Health Information Development Unit notes that the proportion of dwellings from government housing authorities increases substantially with increasing socioeconomic disadvantage. The overall proportion of dwellings rented from the housing authority in Sydney in 2006 was 4.8%. A strong economic gradient is evident, with more than seven times the number of dwellings rented from the housing authority in the most disadvantaged areas (8.9%) compared with the least disadvantaged areas (1.2%). 7 This can be seen as a graph in Figure 3 and in recent data from Housing NSW showing the distribution of female residents of public housing and Aboriginal housing organisation in Sydney Table 1 and Map 6. 7 PHIDU information accompanying Figure 3:

10 PAGE 10 FIGURE 3: SYDNEY HOUSING AUTHORITY DWELLINGS BEING RENTED 2006 Source: PHIDU interactive graphics According to data received from Housing NSW for this Background Paper, in June 2011, 65% of residents of public housing and Aboriginal Housing Organisation (AHO) housing in NSW lived in the Sydney Statistical Division and 55% of these residents were female. Blacktown had more women and girls living in public/aho housing than any other local government area in the Sydney region (Table 1). TABLE 1: FEMALE RESIDENTS IN PUBLIC OR ABORIGINAL HOUSING ORGANISATION HOUSING BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY (ALL AGE GROUPS, SUBSIDISED & NOT SUBSIDISED) JUNE 2011 no. female residents Local government area Blacktown 8450 Campbelltown 6054 Bankstown 5401 Sydney 5240 Fairfield 5070 Liverpool 4702 Parramatta 3049 Penrith 2968 Randwick 2701 Canterbury 2392 Holroyd 1988 Gosford 1712 Wyong 1579 Sutherland 1307 Ryde 1306 Botany Bay 1157 Hurstville 1015 Auburn Source: Housing NSW, NSW Department of Family and Community Services, 2011 urce: Housing NSW, NSW Department of Family and Community Services, 2011

11 PAGE 11 Map 6 on the other hand shows female residents of public/aho housing as a proportion of all female residents in each local government area. Women and girls in public/aho housing comprised 10.9% of all females resident in Campbelltown, 7.9% of female residents in Blacktown, 6.3% in Bankstown, 6.4% in Botany Bay and 6.3% in the City of Sydney. MAP 6: FEMALE RESIDENTS OF PUBLIC/ABORIGINAL HOUSING ORGANISATION HOUSING (ALL AGE GROUPS, SUBSIDISED AND NOT SUBSIDISED) JUNE 2011 Source 1: Housing NSW, NSW Department of Family and Community Services, 2011 Source 2: ABS, Population by Age and Sex, Regions of Australia, 2010

12 PAGE 12 RENTAL STRESS Map 7 depicts low income households with rental stress. The indicator shown is the number of low income households with rental stress which includes households in the bottom 40% of income distribution (with 80% of median income) spending more than 30% of income on rent. Broad areas of the Sydney region on low incomes are experiencing high levels of rental stress this is particularly the case in the West and South West and the Central Coast. Figure 4 shows the proportion of renters in housing stress within the quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area. Commenting on Figure 4, the Public Health Information Development Unit notes: The proportion of low income households experiencing rental stress increases substantially with increasing socioeconomic disadvantage. The overall proportions of low income households with rental stress in Sydney in 2006 was 22.8%. A strong socioeconomic gradient is evident, with more than twice the number of households in the most disadvantaged areas (31.9%) compared with the least disadvantaged areas (13.9%). MAP 7: LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS WITH RENTAL STRESS, 2006 FIGURE 4: SYDNEY HOUSING STRESS RENTERS 2006 Source: PHIDU,

13 PAGE 13 Of particular concern is the position of low income older women renters in private accommodation. MAP 8: FEMALES AGED 50 YEARS AND OVER, AT HOME ON CENSUS NIGHT IN DWELLING RENTED FROM PRIVATE LANDLORD AS A PROPORTION OF ALL FEMALES AGED 50 YEARS AND OVER Note: Private Landlord includes Real Estate Agents, Person not in same household Other Person and Residential Park (includes caravan parks and marinas). Source: ABS: 2006 Census of Population and Housing and PSMA Australia Ltd Map 8 shows the percentage of women aged 50 years and over, in a dwelling rented from a private landlord as a proportion of all women 50 years and over. In total 44,604 women (7.3% of women aged 50 and over) in Sydney were renting from a private landlord on Census night in 2006 compared with 50,446 men or 9.4% renting from a private landlord. The highest proportions of women in private rented accommodation are in Ashfield, Auburn, Bankstown, Blacktown, Cabramatta, Dee Why, Fairfield, Hurstville, Liverpool, Marrickville, Merrylands, North Sydney,

14 PAGE 14 Parramatta and Randwick. This distribution does not mirror the socio-economic distribution of low income renters seen in Map 7 suggesting that some of these women are not in low income categories. WOMEN IN SINGLE PARENT AND LONE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLDS There are very limited data relating to women s housing in existing sources. For information on single parent households, Tually, Beer and Faulkner 8 drew on the Housing 21 Survey, which formed part of the National Research Venture 2: 21 st Century Housing Careers and Australia s Housing Future (this survey was based on responses from seven states and territories NSW and the ACT were combined). Their report notes:! Female single parents worked significantly fewer hours than male single parents. The difference in the hours worked and care responsibilities between female and male sole parents has a major impact on household income, with fully two thirds of female single parent households in the Housing 21 Survey reporting an income of less than $41,600 and 46% less than $25,999. Male sole parents by contrast had much higher incomes with 41% earning household income greater than $62,400 (p19). (Refer Figure 5)! Both male and female single parents were over-represented in rental housing and underrepresented in home ownership women were more likely to be renting from the public sector. Female headed single parent households were more likely to be in rental accommodation and those with owner occupation were more likely to be home owners than home purchasers.! Female headed sole parent households were much more likely than male sole parents to live in a household where one or more persons had a long term health condition, disability or impairment. Some 20% of female headed sole parent households reported the presence of a disability, compared with 3.4% for male sole parents (p19). 8 Tually S, Beer A, and Faulkner B, 2007, Too big to ignore, Future Issues for Australian Women s Housing , AHURI Southern Research Centre,

15 PAGE 15 FIGURE 5: ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME, MALE AND FEMALE SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLDS Source: Tually S, Beer A, and Faulkner B, 2007, Too big to ignore, p 20, Figure 4.2 City Futures Research Centre examined the distribution of single parent households in Our changing city Sydney: a Census overview , noting:! The growth and decline in single parent households in Sydney is part of the social polarisation evident in Sydney between 2001 and 2006 there was a fall in the numbers in the wealthy inner LGAs and the greatest increase was evident in the LGAs were there are existing large numbers in the west (p31).! Auburn and Strathfield exhibited large gains and other increases were evident in socially disadvantaged LGAs including Fairfield, Liverpool and Bankstown. A sharp socio-economic gradient with almost two and a half times the number of single parent families in the most disadvantaged areas (11.4%) compared with the least disadvantaged areas (4.6%) was noted by the Public Health Information Development Unit City Futures Research Centre, 2008, Our Changing City Sydney: Sydney: a Census overview , 10 PHIDU, information accompanying Figure 6,

16 PAGE 16 FIGURE 6 SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN AGED LESS THAN 15 YEARS 20O6 Source: PHIDU This gradient is also evident geographically when mapped for female single parent households MAP 9: FEMALE SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES BY MEDIAN WEEKLY FAMILY INCOME STATE SUBURBS OF USUAL RESIDENCE, SYDNEY STATISTICAL DIVISION, 2006 Source: ABS 2006 Census of Population and Housing and PSMA Australia Ltd

17 PAGE 17 LONE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS Tually, Beer and Faulkner (2007) also draw on the Housing 21 Survey to report on the characteristics of female lone person households. In particular, the report notes:! Older women comprise the largest group of lone person households when classified by age and this reflects the longevity of women - Figure 7.! Government pensions and allowances are the most important source of income for female lone person households 50% stated that they were the main source of income.! Female lone person households had lower incomes poverty is more likely to be of concern for women lone person households than men. FIGURE 7: AGE OF LONE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS BY GENDER Source: Tually S, Beer A, and Faulkner B, 2007, Too Big to Ignore, Future Issues for Australian Women s Housing , AHURI Southern Research Centre, p 23, Figure 4.5 The City of Sydney was the place of residence for the largest number of lone person households (24,570 in 2006), an increase of 10.3% since 2001 (Map 10). However, City Futures also noted 11 that in relative terms numbers of this household type are increasing most significantly in the middle and outer ring local government areas Auburn, Blacktown, Baulkam Hills and Penrith while falling in wealthier areas Waverley, Woollahra, Mosman and Manly (Map 11). 11 City Futures, UNSW: Our Changing City: February

18 PAGE 18 MAP 10 : LONE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS 2006 MAP 11 PERCENT CHANGE IN LONE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS, Source both maps: City Futures, UNSW, Our Changing City, February 2009

19 PAGE 19 Comparing the map of all lone person households (Map 10) with the mapped distribution of female lone person households across the Sydney Statistical Division (Map 12) reveals the impact of unequal pay and poverty on the distribution of single women across the greater Sydney area. MAP 12: FEMALES AGED YEARS IN LONE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS BY MEDIAN WEEKLY INDIVIDUAL INCOME ($), STATE SUBURBS OF USUAL RESIDENCE IN THE SYDNEY STATISTICAL DIVISION, 2006 Source: ABS 2006 Census of Population and Housing and PSMA Australia Ltd

20 PAGE 20 WOMEN AND HOMELESSNESS It is important to note that Sydney s diverse female population includes a proportion of women who are homeless and survivors of violence. However, there is a dearth of data relating to the level of homeless women or women at risk of homelessness in Sydney and indeed Australia, despite being essential to ensure informed service delivery to this most vulnerable group. Methodological difficulties in collecting this data are complex and subject to consideration in the Commonwealth Government s Homelessness White Paper The Road Home: A national approach to reducing homelessness 12. The Government has established the Housing and Homelessness Information Management Group to advise on these data issues 13. Chamberlain 14 in a report titled Counting the Homeless Australia 2006 notes that the rate of homelessness has remained steady at 53 per 10,000 of the population or just under 105,000 homeless in Australia. Overall it is estimated 44% of the homeless were women at the 2006 Census and there were an estimated 27,374 homeless persons in NSW. Thus of an estimated 27,374 homeless persons in NSW in 2006, some 12,045 were women. There is an emerging broad range of literature which points to evidence of increasing numbers of older women entering the homeless population and there is concern that this demand for housing cannot be met. Much of this research is summarised in a report prepared by Ludo McFerran, titled It could be you: female, single, older 15.This study examined the experience of older women in terms of the combined factors of housing trends, demographics, the impact of ageing, and the financial disadvantage of women and concluded that:! being older and single is to be at housing risk and points to the social and economic impacts of divorce and separation on the capacity for women to maintain affordable and appropriate housing into old age, and! there is a need for a gendered understanding of housing need and supply and a gendered understanding of the impact of ageing, both of which are seriously lacking (p7). 12 Australian Government, 2008, Homelessness White Paper The Road Home: A national approach to reducing homeless, 13 The development of a data set related to women who are homeless is of great significance but beyond the scope of this project and needs to be addressed through a broader policy process. 14 Chamberlain C, Counting the Homeless Australia 2006, Australian Bureau of Statistics, ent 15 McFerran L, 2010, it could be you: female, single, older and homeless, a collaborative project of Homelessness NSW, the Older Women s Network NSW and St Vincent de Paul Society,

21 PAGE 21 Tually, Beer and Faulkner 16 (2007) also identified the new face of homelessness as single, older women because of the number of women in the age group and their poor economic status. This is not evident currently but is forecast to change in the space of a generation. HOUSING NEEDS OF REFUGEE WOMEN Andrew Beer and Paul Foley in a paper prepared for AHURI titled Housing need and provision for recently arrived refugees in Australia 17 note that: As most refugee arrivals in Australia lack the resources to purchase housing immediately, they must rely on public rental housing or the private rental market for accomodation. However, we would argue that access to this accomodation can be impeded by numerous factors including! financial barriers (low income levels; inability to accrue bonds, rent in advance and utility deposits);! discrimination by real estate agents and landlords on the grounds of race, gender, age and social status (especially social security recipients);! cultural barriers, especially for female headed, extended or large families;! lack of suitable housing options; and! lack of familiarity with Australian housing and legal systems. (p2) Based on national consultations the Refugee Council of Australia have presented a report titled Australia s Refugee and Humanitarian Program The report notes: The lack of availability of low cost housing continues to present enormous challenges for new arrivals and organisations providing settlement services (p144). NSW refugee settlement is concentrated in Western Sydney. 19 In this context, Anglicare Sydney examined the particular issues relating to African refugees in Western Sydney in the report titled Long Way Home 20. Most families consulted had to relocate about every 6 months which makes it a challenge to establish employment, settle children into school and establish links within the community. 16 Tually S, Beer A, and Faulkner B, 2007, Too big to ignore, Future Issues for Australian Women s Housing , AHURI Southern Research Centre, 17 Beer A, and Foley P, 2003, Housing need for provision for recently arrived refugees in Australia, AHURI, 18 The Refugee Council of Australia, 2011, Australia s Refugee and Humanitarian Program , 19 Housing refugees in Western Sydney Western Sydney Housing Coalition 17/8/10, What is the literature saying about housing and refugees? 20 Anglicare, 2010, Long Way Home? The plight of African refugees obtaining decent housing in Western Sydney.

22 PAGE 22 The report notes particular concerns relating to the situation of single mothers. In particular single refugee women predominantly come from patricarchal societies and must overcome many difficulties and the findings of the study suggest that prejudice about who is deserving of help is confined not only to the housing and real estate sectors. It is observable within the African community itself. While it was clear that single African mothers experience systemic discrimination, they also encounter gender-related prejudice in their own communities. (p16) SUMMARY In summary, the vulnerability of women in Sydney to unequal pay and employment in low paying occupations and life-course changes strongly affects their housing choices and whether they are in rental or mortgage stress. At the extreme end of this vulnerability is the emergence of increasing numbers of women who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, a risk that rises with age.