The aim of this project is to develop a set of good practices for strategic asset management which will assist State Housing Authorities (SHAs) as they seek to improve housing outcomes for public tenants and extend the life of their housing stock by maintaining its viability and relevance.

Supplementary aims are to scope the attributes of public housing stock and its associated issues, and to document and compare the asset management decision-making framework in each jurisdiction.

This Positioning Paper continues work being completed by a multidisciplinary team investigating good practice in managing Australia’s public housing assets.

Other research on the financial issues relating to asset management has also been completed as an earlier stage of the project. The results of this analysis will be included in the Final Report.

This report presents the preliminary literature findings and outlines the research remaining to be completed in the project. One of the main issues which has arisen from the work is to challenge the conservative view of asset management practices in social housing, not because the traditional views are incorrect, but rather because a
narrow view of asset management may result in a self-confirming study – existing practices will be confirmed. The research team has found it necessary to be more aggressive in pursuit of a wider gamut of practices and has explored heavily the practices they have identified in the corporate sector.