Social Mix Discourse and Local Resistance to Social Housing: The Case of the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan, Australia

Abstract

In response to the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2009, the Australian government introduced the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan. Central to the plan was the allocation of AU$5 billion to the construction of 19 000 new social housing dwellings. The construction was seen by the Australian government to be a way of stimulating the economy and adding to the social housing sector. While social housing construction was supported by the not-for-profit sector and academics, a number of localised disputes arose. This article traces the ways in which the discourse of social mix was mobilised by residents to resist social housing construction. Simultaneously, the discourse of social mix was used to position residents as supporters of social housing, while actively seeking to resist new construction in their neighbourhood, which was positioned as running counter to the ideals embedded within the discourse. In promoting the perceived benefits embedded within the discourse of social mix, residents mobilised a complex resistance strategy that worked to destabilise claims of self-interest and NIMBYism.