Does social mix reduce stigma in public housing? A comparative analysis of two housing estates in Melbourne

Abstract

In Australia and many other countries of the Global North, public housing estates are being dismantled and redeveloped to create mixed-income communities. Proponents of redevelopment argue that the introduction of private housing will reduce public housing residents' experiences of stigma. In this paper, we interrogate these assumptions by identifying the degree of stigma directed at the social housing system, the characteristics of those most likely to stigmatise, the impact of proximity to public housing estates on stigmatisation and the words used to describe social housing. Our empirical strategy relies on a multi-dimensional social housing stigma scale, cross-sectional ordinary-least-square regression analysis and a qualitative analysis of respondents' association with the term public housing. We find that a higher level of stigma is correlated with private residents, older respondents, lower incomes and those that have lived in their current neighbourhoods for longer. Drawing on social contact theory, we investigate contact with public housing residents as a predictor of stigmatisation. We find that intra-group contact, positive interactions between social and private residents and proximity to Kensington Estate, a mixed-tenure development, contribute to lower stigmatisation.