Addressing the relationship between housing tenure and social disadvantage, this research examines social capital among public tenants in Australia, concentrating on their level of interpersonal trust and confidence in a range of public institutions. Through multivariate analyses of national survey data it also profiles the social and political background of public housing tenants. As expected, public tenants tend to have lower incomes, lower levels of education, and working-class backgrounds, or do not identify with any class location at all. They are less likely to be married or in de facto relationships than people in other housing tenures, but are more likely to identify with the Australian Labor Party than with the Coalition parties. Although public housing tenants have access to secure and affordable housing, they appear to be generally less trusting than private renters or homeowners and exhibit less confidence in government institutions such as the Australian parliament. Public housing tenants express lower levels of interpersonal trust even controlling for a range of social background factors, suggesting that as a form of tenure, public housing in some ways exacerbates the disadvantage of tenants.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	social capital, trust, housing
Research Division:	Studies in Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Urban Sociology and Community Studies
Objective Division:	Law, Politics and Community Services
Objective Group:	Community Service (excl. Work)
Objective Field:	Social Class and Inequalities
UTAS Author:	Donoghue, J (Dr Jed Donoghue)
UTAS Author:	Tranter, B (Professor Bruce Tranter)
ID Code:	79334
Year Published:	2012
Web of Science® Times Cited:	6
Deposited By:	Sociology and Social Work
Deposited On:	2012-09-03
Last Modified:	2018-03-16
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