The Sydney Housing Affordability Crisis: An Essay On Economic History.

Describe the Housing Affordibility Crisis of Sydney for Economic History.

The Lack of Affordable Housing Stock in Sydney

Sydney is facing a very serious housing crisis in recent years. The lack of affordable separate housing stock means that most of the first buyers of home and the renters are not able to presently find the housing that are suitable for their needs in the locations in Sydney (Bordo 2018). It is also to note that the dominant response from the development industry is that the government needs to get off the hands and unlock the capability of the more intensive development of the well-established suburbs. For this reason, most of the people believes that the current surge in the high rise of construction of apartments in Sydney would help in solving the problem of the housing affordability and would also lead to the more efficient usage of the infrastructure (Andersen et al. 2016).

My key research aim is to obtain, explore and to understand the various data on this social issue and how the current country men are facing this challenge. I have designed this research study in order to understand the vitality of every factors mentioned above in making significant contribution to the housing needs. As per Cumbley and Church (2013), a good and well-structured research methodology allows an in-depth understanding of the different types of techniques that are used in the research. For this research, I would be relying on the qualitative data analysis method. The reason why I have chosen the qualitative data analysis method is because the topic of this research and the surveys of the research conducted could be analysed in a qualitative manner. In this context, o would be following the social mapping procedure, and thereby create map of community resources in order to understand the community standards that hav been the root of the issues based on which this assignment is made. In the scope of this research study the possible approach that would be undertaken for this research study, can be highlighted in detail.

First step in this approach would be the selection of the Local analysts who would engage in a candid talk about the various social differences and discriminations that are the reasons behind the issue highlighted herein. The focus groups that would be formed in this regard, should be selected from among variegated categories that would be based up on ethnicity, caste as well as wellbeing category (De Vreese et al. 2016). In order to facilitate the process of social mapping, the researcher have to form a group including a facilitator as well as an observer. The role of the facilitator is very crucial as they would be entitled to explain and clarify the topic of discussion with the group of social analysts. In this context, Portela and Errandonea (2017), states that it should be kept in mind that local analysts feel comfortable to participate in the discussions. The third crucial step is the production of social map. In this regard, the first criteria is the specification of the territories that would come under this social map. The domestic arenas would mostly be covered under the scope of this social mapping. By means of the help of the local analysts a rough map is to be drawn indicating the central as well as important landmarks that are to be covered. The likes could include housing societies, business complexes, complex living spaces and official quarters also. Another essential aspect in this context is vising the offices of the public facilities like electricity, gas, telephone, water, irrigation and so on. These authorities would be able to provide an overview of the essential data regarding housing and the concerned problems in Sydney.

Government's Response to the Crisis

The local social analysts have another major role to play. The first role in this context is the segregation of the houses indicated in the social map with different colours for the purpose of categorisation under the well-being categories, such as rich, poor, very poor and better-off. It is evident that the housing challenges to every category would be different. The social map that would be created with the help of the local analysts would also pertain to some identification mark for the segregation of the households based on the social categories, like as ethnicity, female led households, as well as large households (Tregear and Cooper 2016). In this context, the feedbacks of people with special functions is needed to be considered. For instance, the house of the secretariat of any housing society of other similar head is to be considered.

All the above described categories are to be described and highlighted on the social map and then based on the identification based on the map, the analysis is to be explained in a legend. However, this research model would make use of another qualitative research method that is survey based on questionnaires. The group of local analysts would take up this mode of survey for fulfilling the various criteria of the social map (de Villiers Prichard et al. 2016). This process would go on smoothly until the local analysts stop at any occasion.

The fourth step is most crucial in this context. In this step, the analysis of the social map would be accomplished. Semi-structured interview of the local analysts have to be conducted by the researcher for the purpose of the research study based assignment and the interview discussions should be noted in the form of transcripts or recorded.  A set of the key questions that might be asked to the local analysts regarding the social map they have constructed:

• What have you identified as boundaries of a particular community, approximately, in context of social services as well as social interaction?
• In what way the public buildings have been created and legalised?
• What is the perception of the community regarding shared living?
• What are difference in the pattern of the living between people of various ethnic groups?
• Whether the number of households, increasing or decreasing in various living spheres, as evident in your research?
• What are the economic, political as well as social resources of the community dwellers?
• What proposed policy changes are the community welfare bodies are considering in context to the proposed problem?

This social map is only a reflection of the current situation. Based on this map, the future implications have to be mapped. In that case, the local analysts have to take authorisation to conduct detailed survey from the local authorities and the budget for the concerned research would also increase. In the stage, the last consideration is that whether any of the local analysts strongly disagree over any question. In that case, all the analysts would be required to judge the opinion to reach a consensus.

Moreover, while conducting this research, I might face several issues in relation to the accessibility of the relevant data since as a researcher, I would be passively involved in the researcher. The major on-field work would be conducted by the local analysts. The respondent’s feedback is of a major concern because it is not always correct. Hence, I might face issues related to the data that I need to collect from the local analysts. Also, one of the limitations of my study would be the time and the budget, as discussed earlier. Notwithstanding this fact, it is also to note that as per Merriam and Tisdell (2015), while conducting any research, a researcher has to maintain ethical issues during the entire research process. According to the Data Protection Act, 1998, a researcher while conducting a research has to maintain privacy of the data that is not published (Lovell and Foy 2018). Hence, I too would maintain the same. I would be under an obligation of not leaking details of the respondents of my study. If I do so, I might be held liable for breach of Data Protection Act. If the fails to maintain privacy of the respondent, he might be held liable for breach of ethical issues. Hence, I will also take the consent of the respondents before proceeding with my survey.

References and Bibliography

Andersen, M.J., Williamson, A.B., Fernando, P., Redman, S. and Vincent, F., 2016. “There’sa housing crisis going on in Sydney for Aboriginal people”: focus group accounts of housing and perceived associations with health. BMC public health, 16(1), p.429.

Bordo, M.D., 2018. An Historical Perspective on the Quest for Financial Stability and the Monetary Policy Regime. The Journal of Economic History, 78(2), pp.319-357.

Cumbley, R. and Church, P., 2013. Is “Big Data” creepy?. Computer Law & Security Review, 29(5), pp.601-609.

de Villiers Prichard, J.P., Shaw, J.C. and Bayliss, D.A., LexisNexis Risk Solutions FL Inc, 2016. Systems and methods for identifying entities using geographical and social mapping. U.S. Patent 9,412,141.

De Vreese, R., Leys, M., Fontaine, C.M. and Dendoncker, N., 2016. Social mapping of perceived ecosystem services supply–The role of social landscape metrics and social hotspots for integrated ecosystem services assessment, landscape planning and management . Ecological indicators, 66, pp.517-533.

Dufty-Jones, R., 2018. A historical geography of housing crisis in Australia. Australian Geographer, 49(1), pp.5-23.

Kallio, H., Pietilä, A.M., Johnson, M. and Kangasniemi, M., 2016. Systematic methodological review: developing a framework for a qualitative semi?structured interview guide. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(12), pp.2954-2965.

Kessler, C.S., 2016. “Diasporic” Muslims,“Minoritarian” Islam, and Modern Democratic Citizenship: Negotiating Accommodation and Integration. In Creating Social Cohesion in an Interdependent World (pp. 127-144). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

Lovell, M. and Foy, M.A., 2018. General Data Protection Regulation May 2018 (GDPR) How does it affect us?. Bone & Joint 360, 7(4), pp.41-42.

Merriam, S.B. and Tisdell, E.J., 2015. Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons.

Portela, M. and Errandonea, L.P., 2017, June. The role of Participatory Social Mapping in the struggle of the territory and the right to the city: A case study in Buenos Aires. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Communities and Technologies (pp. 100-104). ACM.

Tregear, A. and Cooper, S., 2016. Embeddedness, social capital and learning in rural areas: The case of producer cooperatives. Journal of rural studies, 44, pp.101-110.