Developing a workable model of housing need: Applying geographical concepts and techniques to a problem of public policy

Abstract

Governments increasingly seek to target public sector welfare expenditures to those most in need. In Australia, attention has increasingly focussed on the question of housing need: its conceptualisation, measurement, application to policy and expression across space. This paper reports on work undertaken by geographers for the Government of South Australia on the development of a workable model of housing need as a means of establishing priorities for public sector expenditure. The paper considers the problem of housing need and the challenges of developing and applying the multi-faceted concepts embedded within the notion of 'need'. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.