Slum warning: more than one million Australians live in poor to derelict housing

 More than one million Australians live in properties which are dangerously close to being slum housing, researchers reveal.

Another 100,000 people occupy houses defined as being in very poor condition or derelict, according to the study.

The problem was larger than academics from the University of Adelaide anticipated.

Almost one in five renters (19 per cent) live in dwellings classed as poor quality to derelict, compared to three per cent of homeowners, the study published this month found.

Vulnerable tenants with low incomes and disabilities are among those worst off, and younger people were more likely than the elderly to live in shoddy conditions.

Analysis showed a measurable and significant impact on the mental, physical, and general health of those living in substandard housing.

In Victoria, the state government is considering introducing minimum standards for landlords and renters, as part of the sweeping Residential Tenancies Act review. Options will be put forward for public consultation later this year.

Associate Professor Emma Baker, from the university’s school of architecture and built environment, said housing quality was last measured nationally and systematically in 1999.

Professor Baker and her colleagues used property assessments from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to come to their conclusion about housing quality.

“It is imperfect data, but it’s the call to arms to start measuring it in future in Australia,” she said.

There was a danger of slum housing, similar to that from decades ago, making a comeback. “The whole study was motivated by the fact that we just don’t know in Australia how many people are in poor conditioned housing,” she said.

“Australian housing is a good housing market, but internationally we have some of the most unaffordable housing markets in the world, and that plays a big role in people not being able to afford the quality of dwelling they need.”

The condition of Australian housing is a neglected area of research, the university paper found.

“The scale of poor housing in Australia was surprising and has substantial policy implications and social importance,” researchers said.

Professor Baker said Australians were often sidetracked by issues of real estate affordability and values.

“I think as Australians we probably need to realise that underneath the averages, more people are in poor quality housing than we know, and the only way to address it is first to measure it, know the problem, know where it is, know who is most affected, and then we can start to address it,” she said.

“Sometimes in Australia we get a bit distracted by the value of the dwelling and how much money we are going to make, but we tend to forget 27 per cent of the population live in rental dwellings, and they are not part of the discussion.

“For a long time we have been concentrating on affordability, and a lot of our work has shown there is probably a larger group than we thought living in poor quality dwellings.”