Affordable housing: the productivity dimension - … · Affordable housing: the productivity...
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8 Affordable housing: the productivity dimension Dr Marcus Spiller, SGS Economics & Planning Pty Ltd Principal and Partner The social housing policy community has its foundaons in the early years of the long, post-war boom. Public investment in housing was then seen as an adjunct to industrial development – a ladder to opportunity for ordinary working people. Since the early 80s, policy making in social housing has been shepherded, or bludgeoned, into a much narrower ‘welfare safety net role’. Now, social housing tends to be seen as the shelter opon of last resort. There have been niche variaons to this theme with, for example, iniaves to secure ‘key worker’ housing in regions with buoyant labour markets, but overall the narrow focus prevails. Moreover, it seems increasingly difficult to generate support for investment in social housing regardless of where a parcular government might sit on the polical spectrum. This paper argues that a fresh constuency for social housing can best be built by re-focussing on the link between adequate housing and human capital development. That is, the social housing policy community needs to show how investment in this sector, alongside other spaal policy iniaves, can be used to build skills and create a more adaptable economy, just as the original architects of social housing policy had envisaged. Producvity and human capital development are priories of all governments as they strive to maintain living standards in the face of an ageing populaon. To make the most of this strategy to revitalise the social housing agenda, this policy community will need to overcome a barrier of its own making – the divide between housing policy and urban policy. Sadly, these two spheres of public sector endeavour to connue to operate in silos. I will illustrate these proposions by reference to paerns of urban development in metropolitan Brisbane. In doing so, the paper draws on images from a recent Graan Instute report entled Producve cies: opportunity in a changing economy. 1 SGS Economics & Planning Pty Ltd (SGS) provided pro-bono advice and mapping assistance to the Instute in respect of this report. A stark social polarizaon is beginning to take hold in the Brisbane metropolitan area. This is bad in and of itself, but it is also creang a mismatch between the needs of the knowledge economy and the locaon of vital human resources required to sustain it. As is evident in Figure 1 the southern suburbs of the metropolitan area have a sharply lower income profile than the rest of Brisbane, while high income ‘enclaves’ have established in the central city, the western suburbs and neighbourhoods along the river. This socio-economic division reflects structural shiſts in the regional economy, with employment in the design, brokerage and problem solving aspects of modern industry clustering in the inner city, while the making and distribuon aspects are confined, or pushed, to outer urban areas. As a result, workers with university qualificaons are more heavily represented in the inner city and ‘river suburbs’ (Figure 2). Over the past couple of decades, the knowledge intensity of all industries has moved up, demanding more university- trained workers across the board. However, the ‘in-board’ bias in the locaon of these workers has become more pronounced (Figure 3). These structural shiſts are, perhaps, even more pronounced when observed in the inverse. Workers with no post school qualificaons are clearly concentrated in outer areas (Figure 4), as are ‘disconnected’ young people, that is, those that are not in educaon, training or employment (Figure 5).
Transcript of Affordable housing: the productivity dimension - … · Affordable housing: the productivity...
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Affordable housing: the productivity dimensionDr Marcus Spiller, SGS Economics & Planning Pty Ltd Principal and Partner
Thesocialhousingpolicycommunityhasitsfoundationsintheearlyyearsofthelong,post-warboom.Publicinvestmentinhousingwasthenseenasanadjuncttoindustrialdevelopment–aladdertoopportunityforordinaryworkingpeople.
Sincetheearly80s,policymakinginsocialhousinghasbeenshepherded,orbludgeoned,intoamuchnarrower‘welfaresafetynetrole’.Now,socialhousingtendstobeseenastheshelteroptionoflastresort.Therehavebeennichevariationstothisthemewith,forexample,initiativestosecure‘keyworker’housinginregionswithbuoyantlabourmarkets,butoverallthenarrowfocusprevails.Moreover,itseemsincreasinglydifficulttogeneratesupportforinvestmentinsocialhousingregardlessofwhereaparticulargovernmentmightsitonthepoliticalspectrum.
Thispaperarguesthatafreshconstituencyforsocialhousingcanbestbebuiltbyre-focussingonthelinkbetweenadequatehousingandhumancapitaldevelopment.Thatis,thesocialhousingpolicycommunityneedstoshowhowinvestmentinthissector,alongsideotherspatialpolicyinitiatives,canbeusedtobuildskillsandcreateamoreadaptableeconomy,justastheoriginalarchitectsofsocialhousingpolicyhadenvisaged.
Productivityandhumancapitaldevelopmentareprioritiesofallgovernmentsastheystrivetomaintainlivingstandardsinthefaceofanageingpopulation.
Tomakethemostofthisstrategytorevitalisethesocialhousingagenda,thispolicycommunitywillneedtoovercomeabarrierofitsownmaking–thedividebetweenhousingpolicyandurbanpolicy.Sadly,thesetwospheresofpublicsectorendeavourtocontinuetooperateinsilos.
IwillillustratethesepropositionsbyreferencetopatternsofurbandevelopmentinmetropolitanBrisbane.Indoingso,thepaperdrawsonimagesfromarecentGrattanInstitutereportentitledProductive cities: opportunity in a changing economy.1SGSEconomics&PlanningPtyLtd(SGS)providedpro-bonoadviceandmappingassistancetotheInstituteinrespectofthisreport.
AstarksocialpolarizationisbeginningtotakeholdintheBrisbanemetropolitanarea.Thisisbadinandofitself,butitisalsocreatingamismatchbetweentheneedsoftheknowledgeeconomyandthelocationofvitalhumanresourcesrequiredtosustainit.
AsisevidentinFigure1thesouthernsuburbsofthemetropolitanareahaveasharplylowerincomeprofilethantherestofBrisbane,whilehighincome‘enclaves’haveestablishedinthecentralcity,thewesternsuburbsandneighbourhoodsalongtheriver.
Thissocio-economicdivisionreflectsstructuralshiftsintheregionaleconomy,withemploymentinthedesign,brokerageandproblemsolvingaspectsofmodernindustryclusteringintheinnercity,whilethemakinganddistributionaspectsareconfined,orpushed,toouterurbanareas.
Asaresult,workerswithuniversityqualificationsaremoreheavilyrepresentedintheinnercityand‘riversuburbs’(Figure2).Overthepastcoupleofdecades,theknowledgeintensityofallindustrieshasmovedup,demandingmoreuniversity-trainedworkersacrosstheboard.However,the‘in-board’biasinthelocationoftheseworkershasbecomemorepronounced(Figure3).Thesestructuralshiftsare,perhaps,evenmorepronouncedwhenobservedintheinverse.Workerswithnopostschoolqualificationsareclearlyconcentratedinouterareas(Figure4),asare‘disconnected’youngpeople,thatis,thosethatarenotineducation,trainingoremployment(Figure5).
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Tocompoundthisintuitivelyunhelpfulpatternofseparationbetweenthoseengagedinproductionwork(ornowork)andthoseengagedinbrokerageandproblemsolving,itwouldappearthatBrisbane’stransportsystemeffectivelylocksworkersinouterareasoutofmorelucrativelabourmarkets.Residentsinoutlyingsuburbshavesignificantlyloweraccesstoemploymentopportunitiesthantheirin-boardcounterparts.Thisholdsforcar-borneworkers(Figure6),butbecomesquiteextremeforthoseworkerswhomustusepublictransport
toreachemployment(ortraining,oranyotheropportunityinFigure7).
Asidefromthenegativeconsequencesforsocialcohesion,thisfragmentationinlabourmarketsbodesillforBrisbane’sproductivity;thatis,itscapacitytogeneratetheincomerequiredtomeettheneedsofagrowingandageingpopulation.Indeed,a‘double-whammy’effectisatplay.Theinnerurbanknowledgeeconomyfacesgoodgrowthprospectsbecauseittendstobestronglyexportoriented–problem-solvingservices
aredeliveredtoclientswellbeyondBrisbanetootherpartsoftheState,thenationandtheworld.Whatitneedstogrowisaccesstowelltrainedworkers.Unfortunately,asubstantialpartofthe‘brains’potentiallyavailabletoBrisbane’sinnerurbanservicessectorisstrandedinremote,inaccessibleresidentiallocations.Atthesametime,workersintheseouterareasaredeniedtheopportunitytodeveloptheirskillsbecausetheyareconfinedtoamuchshallowerjobspoolbyaninadequatepublictransportsystem.Innercityindustryand
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outerurbanworkersbothloseintheprocess.
Providingcheaphousingontheurbanfringe,possiblyinanefforttocreatemoreaffordablehousing,isactingasabrakeonBrisbane’seconomicperformance.
Policiesarerequiredtobetterconnectfringesuburbsintomainstreamlabourmarkets.Thismeansradicallyrethinkingpublictransportstrategies.
Itisalsoimportanttoexpandhousingsupplyinalreadywell-connectedsuburbsandtomakesurethatareasonableshareofthisisavailableassocialhousing.ThistoowillhelpmitigatewastageinBrisbane’shumancapitalstock,byensuringthatthosemostatriskofpermanentdisengagementfromthelabourforceareexposedtotrainingandjobopportunities.
Socialhousingpolicycan,andshould,beframedaspartofthesolutiontothiseconomicdevelopmentchallenge
ofbuildingthebestqualitylabourforcefora21stcenturyeconomy.Thisisrequiredifthecommunityatlarge,andgovernments,aretoonceagaincommitsignificantresourcestothesocialhousingproject.
Endnote
1. GrattanInstitutereport,Productive cities: opportunity in a changing economy http://grattan.edu.au/events/event/productive-cities-opportunity-in-a-changing-economy
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