Cargando…

Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters

BACKGROUND: Housing is a key determinant of the poor health of Aboriginal Australians. Most Aboriginal people live in cities and large towns, yet research into housing conditions has largely focused on those living in remote areas. This paper measures the prevalence of housing problems amongst parti...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Andersen, Melanie J, Williamson, Anna B, Fernando, Peter, Wright, Darryl, Redman, Sally
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5540447/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28764762
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4607-y
_version_ 1783254633898049536
author Andersen, Melanie J
Williamson, Anna B
Fernando, Peter
Wright, Darryl
Redman, Sally
author_facet Andersen, Melanie J
Williamson, Anna B
Fernando, Peter
Wright, Darryl
Redman, Sally
author_sort Andersen, Melanie J
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Housing is a key determinant of the poor health of Aboriginal Australians. Most Aboriginal people live in cities and large towns, yet research into housing conditions has largely focused on those living in remote areas. This paper measures the prevalence of housing problems amongst participants in a study of urban Aboriginal families in New South Wales, Australia, and examines the relationship between tenure type and exposure to housing problems. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey data was provided by 600 caregivers of 1406 Aboriginal children aged 0–17 years participating in Phase One of the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH). Regression modelling of the associations between tenure type (own/mortgage, private rental or social housing) and housing problems was conducted, adjusting for sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: The majority (60%) of SEARCH households lived in social housing, 21% rented privately and 19% either owned their home outright or were paying a mortgage (“owned”). Housing problems were common, particularly structural problems, damp and mildew, vermin, crowding and unaffordability. Physical dwelling problems were most prevalent for those living in social housing, who were more likely to report three or more physical dwelling problems than those in owned (PR 3.19, 95%CI 1.97, 5.73) or privately rented homes (PR 1.49, 1.11, 2.08). However, those in social housing were the least likely to report affordability problems. Those in private rental moved home most frequently; children in private rental were more than three times as likely to have lived in four or more homes since birth than those in owned homes (PR 3.19, 95%CI 1.97, 5.73). Those in social housing were almost half as likely as those in private rental to have lived in four or more homes since birth (PR 0.56, 95%CI 0.14, 0.77). Crowding did not vary significantly by tenure type. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of housing problems amongst study participants suggests that urban Aboriginal housing requires further attention as part of efforts to reduce the social and health disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal Australians. Particular attention should be directed to the needs of those renting in the private and social housing sectors, who are experiencing the poorest dwelling conditions. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4607-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5540447
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-55404472017-08-03 Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters Andersen, Melanie J Williamson, Anna B Fernando, Peter Wright, Darryl Redman, Sally BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Housing is a key determinant of the poor health of Aboriginal Australians. Most Aboriginal people live in cities and large towns, yet research into housing conditions has largely focused on those living in remote areas. This paper measures the prevalence of housing problems amongst participants in a study of urban Aboriginal families in New South Wales, Australia, and examines the relationship between tenure type and exposure to housing problems. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey data was provided by 600 caregivers of 1406 Aboriginal children aged 0–17 years participating in Phase One of the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH). Regression modelling of the associations between tenure type (own/mortgage, private rental or social housing) and housing problems was conducted, adjusting for sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: The majority (60%) of SEARCH households lived in social housing, 21% rented privately and 19% either owned their home outright or were paying a mortgage (“owned”). Housing problems were common, particularly structural problems, damp and mildew, vermin, crowding and unaffordability. Physical dwelling problems were most prevalent for those living in social housing, who were more likely to report three or more physical dwelling problems than those in owned (PR 3.19, 95%CI 1.97, 5.73) or privately rented homes (PR 1.49, 1.11, 2.08). However, those in social housing were the least likely to report affordability problems. Those in private rental moved home most frequently; children in private rental were more than three times as likely to have lived in four or more homes since birth than those in owned homes (PR 3.19, 95%CI 1.97, 5.73). Those in social housing were almost half as likely as those in private rental to have lived in four or more homes since birth (PR 0.56, 95%CI 0.14, 0.77). Crowding did not vary significantly by tenure type. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of housing problems amongst study participants suggests that urban Aboriginal housing requires further attention as part of efforts to reduce the social and health disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal Australians. Particular attention should be directed to the needs of those renting in the private and social housing sectors, who are experiencing the poorest dwelling conditions. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4607-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2017-08-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5540447/ /pubmed/28764762 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4607-y Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Andersen, Melanie J
Williamson, Anna B
Fernando, Peter
Wright, Darryl
Redman, Sally
Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters
title Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters
title_full Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters
title_fullStr Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters
title_full_unstemmed Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters
title_short Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters
title_sort housing conditions of urban households with aboriginal children in nsw australia: tenure type matters
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5540447/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28764762
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4607-y
work_keys_str_mv AT andersenmelaniej housingconditionsofurbanhouseholdswithaboriginalchildreninnswaustraliatenuretypematters
AT williamsonannab housingconditionsofurbanhouseholdswithaboriginalchildreninnswaustraliatenuretypematters
AT fernandopeter housingconditionsofurbanhouseholdswithaboriginalchildreninnswaustraliatenuretypematters
AT wrightdarryl housingconditionsofurbanhouseholdswithaboriginalchildreninnswaustraliatenuretypematters
AT redmansally housingconditionsofurbanhouseholdswithaboriginalchildreninnswaustraliatenuretypematters