What does ‘low income’ housing look like in your country?
A question out of legitimate curiosity and not trying to be overly political. Where does those of low socioeconomic status live? Is it government supplied? What’s the quality like?
In Australia really there are 4 ‘options’:
- #1 - You’re homeless, potentially in a tent or just a sleeping bag in a major city; or living out of a vehicle (>122,000 people).
- #2 - You’re living in a ‘commission flat’ (picture 1). This was the solution generally around the 50s to 70s where big buildings full of little flats were built. A notable example of this centralised model is the conversion of the 1956 Olympic Village into social housing (with currently some of the highest rates of crime and poverty in the country, this is picture 2). Some of these commission flats are being knocked down in favour of option #3.
- #3 - The government now favours de-centralised social housing such as the allocation of a small percentage of new build apartments or a cheaper house on an average street. These have capped rent at about 25% of household income. Social housing (#2 + #3) makes up about 4.1% of all households/ 830,000 people.
- #4 - You rent a room in a ‘rooming house’ or similar through a slumlord landlord, that is barely habitable (barely legal) accomodation. I lived next to one for a while and noted some of the rooms had a different day & night occupant, there was leaking sewage and generally was just a horrible place full of struggling migrants (floor plan pictured). Most of these are old houses altered to try and fit as many bedrooms as possible for profit.