Housing organisations in Australia and the Netherlands: A comparative analysis

Dutch housing associations are private organisations with a public responsibility which are
managed effectively to fulfil the social objectives of providing affordable rental housing.
In the Australian system, community housing organisations are categorised as not-for-profit
organisations and are mostly characterised by small organisations with very limited
resources. This study aims to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Australian and
the Dutch housing association models. A series of interviews with representatives of
community housing organisations in Brisbane, Australia, will be compared with the results
of similar interviews with representatives of social housing associations in the Netherlands.
In addition to differences in management structure, the second principal variation is that of
government financial involvement: in the Dutch system, a social housing guarantee is
provided by the state government, which reduces the risk of borrowing and, hence, the
interest rate accordingly. Furthermore, the encouragement of mixed-housing types in the
Netherlands avoids an undesirable concentration of low cost housing in one locality as well
as allowing residents to have more housing options and continue to live in the same
neighbourhood throughout their life. Adapting the highly subsidised Dutch housing model
to fit the Australian context is an opportunity considered in this paper.