Caravan Parks as Social Housing: The Tensions between Public Goals and Private Interests in Brisbane, Australia

Abstract

Planning both facilitates the activities of the market and addresses areas of market failure. It can also remain aloof from intervention in either direction. There are potential tensions inherent in these various roles and their expectations, which are exacerbated by the fact that many planning policies rely on the market for their actual implementation. The provision of housing, especially low-cost housing, is a case in point. This paper reports on research in Brisbane, Australia that explored the role of privately-owned caravan parks as providers of low-cost housing. Their vulnerability to redevelopment pressures, partly through market forces and partly as a consequence of public policies, is used to explore the tensions that can arise in urban governance between public goals and private interests.