The Housing and Other Service Needs of Recently Arrived Immigrants

This research has considered the use of housing and other services by recent immigrants to Australia. It has focussed on the relationship between housing, and housing assistance measures, and the use of other services by recent immigrants, as well as measures of their quality of life, vulnerability and satisfaction with Australia. The analysis was based on the examination of data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA), with three waves of surveys applied to immigrants who arrived in Australia between September 1993 and August 1995. The three waves captured the settlement experiences of recent immigrants after six months, 18 months and three and a half years post arrival. Once weighted, just under 52,000 immigrants participated in all three waves of the survey. The research found that recent immigrants made considerable use of government and other services, with more than 250,000 uses of services reported over the three waves. The use of services varied considerably by tenure, with home owners and home purchasers having the least recourse to assistance, and public and private tenants the greatest. Education and language assistance was the largest single service used by recent immigrants, followed by social services, employment assistance and health and aged care services.