Devised by CFRC and launched on 17 May, the new Queensland Rental Vulnerability Index is a new tool for measuring and mapping problems in our rental housing system. ‘Rental vulnerability’ is defined here as the vulnerability of persons to problems that may make their rental housing unaffordable, insecure or inappropriate, and which – therefore – indicates a possible need for tenant advice. Commissioned by Tenants Queensland, and created by Dr Laurence Troy and Dr Chris Martin, the Index draws on 13 census and other indicators to create a single location-specific rental vulnerability score. Mapped for Queensland, the revealed geography of rental vulnerability suggests that – at least in this setting – the well-known metropolitan trend towards ‘suburbanisation of disadvantage’ is now being echoed by a regionalisation of disadvantage. Since the model could be easily applied to other jurisdictions it is hoped that geographies of rental vulnerability will be exposed elsewhere in Australia in the near future.

More about the project here