Editing Public housing (section)

== Oceania ==

=== Australia ===
{{Main|Public housing in Australia}}
[[File:Waterloo towers 2.JPG|thumb|Public housing high-rise in the [[City of Sydney|Inner-City Sydney]] Sydney suburb of [[Waterloo, New South Wales|Waterloo]], two of 11 such towers in three different estates spread across the suburbs of [[Waterloo, New South Wales|Waterloo]], [[Redfern, New South Wales|Redfern]] and [[Surry Hills]]]]

Public housing in Australia, also referred to as "housing commission", is managed by the [[States and territories of Australia|states]], with funding provided by both the state and [[Government of Australia|federal]] governments. Policies vary by state, but generally, eligibility is based on personal or household income, asset limits and residency requirements. The allocation of public housing is typically done through a priority system where the applicants in the greatest need are housed first.

There are over 300,000 public housing dwellings in Australia, consisting of low-density housing on master-planned estates located in suburban areas, and also inner-city high-rise apartments in [[Melbourne]] and [[Sydney]].

In recent decades, rooming and relief housing for the homeless have both been privatised, and in recent years this housing has been sold off to avoid maintenance costs and capitalise on sales in Australia’s booming property market. In Melbourne, public housing stocks have been in decline for some time, sparking the [[2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute]] in which homeless people are being housed by the community campaign in homes left empty by the state government.

In 2016, a study by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute found an interesting effect of providing public housing to those living in poverty and who are at risk of losing their homes. When poor Western Australians were granted access to public housing, they began to rely on the region's healthcare system less, with immense savings for Western Australia. The reduction in the stress on hospitals, emergency rooms, and other forms of medical care projected to over $16 million saved for Western Australia per annum.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=22 July 2016 |title=What are the health, social and economic benefits of providing public housing and support to formerly homeless people? |url=https://apo.org.au/node/65842 |access-date=26 May 2024 |website=Analysis & Policy Observation |last1=Wood |first1=Lisa |last2=Flatau |first2=Paul |last3=Zaretzky |first3=Kaylene |last4=Foster |first4=Sarah |last5=Vallesi |first5=Shannen |last6=Miscenko |first6=Darja }}</ref>

Recently, in a move to address the public housing crisis, Prime Minister [[Anthony Albanese]] announced an allocation of $2 billion to states and territories specifically for the development of social housing. This measure is part of the federal government's commitment to tackling housing affordability and homelessness across Australia. The Housing Minister has proposed a guaranteed annual expenditure of $500 million on public housing. However, this policy is contingent on garnering [[Crossbencher|crossbench]] support to ensure its implementation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-16 |title=States to share in $2b for public housing |url=https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/states-to-share-in-2b-for-public-housing-20230616-p5dh64 |access-date=2023-06-19 |website=Australian Financial Review |language=en}}</ref>

=== New Zealand ===
{{Main|State housing in New Zealand}}
[[File:State Housing in Oranga, Auckland, 1947.jpg|thumb|left|Unlike many other countries, much New Zealand state housing of the 20th century was in the form of detached single-family houses similar to private housing. This is a 1947 development in [[Oranga]], [[Auckland]].]]

Private companies (such as the [[New Zealand Company]]) which fostered early organised European settlement in [[New Zealand]] constructed immigration barracks to serve as temporary accommodation for their new arrivals.<ref>
For example: {{cite book
| last1                 = Ross
| first1                = Robert
| title                 = Letters from Settlers & Labouring Emigrants in the New Zealand Company's Settlements of Wellington, Nelson, & New Plymouth: From February, 1842, to January, 1843
| chapter               = Letter from Robert Ross
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=YdoNAAAAQAAJ
| location              = London
| publisher             = Creative Media Partners, LLC (originally by Smith, Elder and Company)
| date           = February 2014
| orig-date      = 1843
| page                  = 121
| isbn = 9781294763833
| quote                 = There were then [in February 1842] no houses [in Nelson] excepting the Company's offices and immigration barracks; but now [November 1842] there are about 1000 [...].
}}
</ref>

The Workers' Dwellings Act of 1905 resulted in the [[New Zealand Government]] commissioning the building of 646 houses.<ref>
{{cite book
| last1                 = Roche
| first1                = Michael
| chapter               = Building Houses in New Zealand under the Workers' Dwelling Act, 1905 and Housing Act, 1919
| title                 = Green Fields, Brown Fields, New Fields: Proceedings of the 10th Australasian Urban History / Planning History Conference, University of Melbourne, 7–10 February 2010
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=Q0HuApjnk2AC
| editor1-last          = Nichols
| editor1-first         = David
| editor2-last          = Hurlimann
| editor2-first         = Anna
| editor3-last          = Mouat
| editor3-first         = Clare
| location              = Melbourne, Australia
| publisher             = University of Melbourne
| date      = 2010
| page                  = 530
| isbn                  = 9781921775079
| quote                 = [...] only 646 houses were ever built under the act, far short of the initial target of 5000 [...].
}}
</ref>

In 1937 the [[First Labour Government of New Zealand|First Labour Government]] launched a major public-housing system—it became known as "state housing"—for citizens unable to afford private rents. Most state housing built between 1937 and the mid-1950s consisted of detached two-to-three-bedroom cottage-style houses; only 1.5% of state houses in 1949 formed part of apartment blocks, all of them in [[Auckland]] or in greater [[Wellington]]. After World War II ended in 1945, [[List of former territorial authorities in New Zealand|local authorities]] also started providing social housing, mainly for elderly people with low incomes.
{{Clear}}