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

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’.