Housing displacement in Australian cities

Abstract

Australian capital cities are being redeveloped through urban renewal and gentrification, especially in their inner cities. However, too often the market-led urban consolidation used in main Australian capital cities contributes to the displacement of low-income households from the inner cities into the outer suburbs which has implications for socio-spatial equity (Atkinson and Wulff, 2009; Atkinson et al., 2011). Housing displacement of low-income households is a growing problem both internationally and nationally however within the Australian context the focus has been on Sydney and Melbourne with little research focused on the other capital cities such as Brisbane. Over the last 20 years, the City of Brisbane has undertaken many urban renewal projects that have led to gentrification in its inner city, but few precautions have been taken to avoid or rigorously understand through research, policy or planning the displacement of low income households (Darchen and Ladouceur, 2013; Walters and McCrea, 2014). This paper explores housing insecurity and displacement within the case-study of Brisbane the impact of these factors on low to middle income households; and the implications for planning policy and practice at the metropolitan scale.