‘A pathway to where?’ Inquiry into understanding and reimagining social housing pathways

This report is the final report for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) evidence-based policy Inquiry into social housing pathways. The report examines data on entrants and exits to social housing and draws together findings from a program of research that examined: 1) the role of policy in shaping social housing pathways through a review of current social housing operational policies (Powell, Meltzer et al. 2019), and 2) the lived experience of people who have moved into, within and/or out of social housing across four jurisdictions (Flanagan, Levin et al. 2020). Reports from these two elements of the research program can be read elsewhere. This report summarises findings from these components, adds some quantitative data on social housing entry and exits, and examines the similarities and differences between the policy perspective of social housing pathways and the reality of pathways for tenants and their families. In doing so, it seeks to better understand and hypothesise how social housing pathways could be reimagined for positive housing outcomes for current and future tenants across the social and affordable housing system.