To have and to Hold: Experimentation in Australia with a Housing Allowance Scheme

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.