Undertaken in collaboration with RMIT University and Swinburne University, this study focused on challenges facing the policy community in Victoria and NSW in the development of a regulatory regime which addresses issues of quality and legitimacy in the rooming/boarding house industry.

The research focused on the reformed regulatory frameworks for rooming/boarding houses (co-incidentally) introduced by the Victoria and NSW state governments in 2012. Early implementation of the new regimes was investigated mainly through a program of interviews and focus group discussions involving relevant State Government departments, local government officers, boarding house owners and operators, and NGO advocates and service providers.

State-specific discussion papers collated from resulting findings were published by AHURI but also formed the basis for facilitated discussions at two expert stakeholder Panel discussions (in Victoria and in NSW), as convened by the research team. These meetings helped to inform the overall Final Report which brought together evidence on regulatory reform from the two states.