The Australian Housing Allowance Voucher Experiment (HAVE) appears to be a radical change in Government policy towards low-income housing. There are moves to remove subsidies in kind, by raising government dwelling rents to market levels, and to replace them with housing allowances payable to both public and private renters. The HAVE proposals are critically assessed relative to an alternative and more efficient voucher scheme. The likely response of rental housing supply to increased demand is also examined, as is the role of the bureaucracy. It is concluded that more could be achieved than under HAVE with the same budget outlay.
Aaron, H.J., 1972, Shelter and Subsidies: Who Benefits from Federal Housing Subsidies? (Brookings Institution, Washington D.C.).
2.
Albon, R.P., 1977, “Rent Control, A Costly Redistributive Device?: The Case of Canberra”, mimeographed, Australian National University, Canberra.
3.
Apps, P.E., 1976, “Rent Vouchers: A Reform that's Bound to Fail”, National Times, November 15–20.
4.
Bambrick, S., 1974, “Federal Government Intervention in the Price Mechanism 1939-49”, Australian Economic History Review, 14, 1–19.
5.
Brenchley, F., 1977, “Fraser's $15m Rent Voucher Experiment”, Australian Financial Review, February 14.
6.
de Leeuw, F. and N.F. Ekanem, 1971, “The Supply of Rental Housing”, American Economic Review, 61, 806–17.
7.
de Leeuw, F. and N.F. Ekanem, 1973, “The Supply of Rental Housing: Reply”, American Economic Review, 63, 437–38.
8.
Department of Environment, Housing and Community Development, 1976, The Australian Housing Allowance Voucher Experiment (Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra).
9.
Grieson, R.E., 1973, “The Supply of Rental Housing: Comment”, American Economic Review, 63, 433–36.
10.
Hartman, C. and D. Keating, 1974, “The Housing Allowance Delusion”, Social Policy, 4, 31–37.
11.
Henderson, R.F. (Chairman), 1975, Commission of Inquiry into Poverty, First Main Report, Vol. 1 (Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra).
12.
Jay, C., 1977, “Federal Home Voucher Plan for Low-income Groups Under Fire”, Australian Financial Review, May 20.
13.
Lampe, A., 1977, “Sydney's Strata Boomlet Winds Down”, Australian Financial Review, February 4.
14.
Muth, R.F., 1960, “The Demand for Non-Farm Housing”, in: A.C. Harberger, ed., The Demand for Durable Goods (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
15.
Myers, D., 1975, “Housing Allowances, Submarket Relationships and the Filtering Process”, Urban Affairs Quarterly, 11, 215–40.
16.
Olsen, E.O., 1969, “A Competitive Theory of the Housing Market”, American Economic Review, 59, 612–21.
17.
Paterson, J., D. Yencken and G. Gunn, 1976, A Mansion or No House (Urban Development Institute of Australia (Victoria), Melbourne).
18.
Priorities Review Staff, 1975, Report on Housing (Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra).
19.
Ricketts, M., 1976, “The Economics of the Rent Allowance”, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 23, 235–60.
20.
Vaughn, G.A., 1976, “Sources of Downward Bias in Estimating the Demand Income Elasticity for Urban Housing”, Journal of Urban Economics, 3, 45–56.
