Â鶹Éç

2019 marks 20 years of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (Â鶹Éç) Limited.

In 1999, joint funding commitments from the Australian and all state and territory governments established the National Housing Research Program and Â鶹Éç Limited – the independent, not-for-profit company at the centre of Â鶹Éç’s national network of policy makers, university and industry partners.

This commitment built upon the initial formation of Â鶹Éç as a partnership of institutions including RMIT, CSIRO, QUT and Monash University in 1993.

'Since 1999, Â鶹Éç’s mission has centred on the delivery of policy-relevant evidence that informs decision making and impacts better housing, homelessness, cities and urban outcomes,' says Executive Director, Dr Michael Fotheringham.

To celebrate the anniversary, Â鶹Éç is highlighting key milestones from the last twenty years: influential research, the establishment of key policy and practice frameworks, important PhD scholarships, significant conferences and events and substantial developments in housing, homelessness, cities and urban policy in Australia.

...this landmark is an opportunity to reflect on the broad range of services and communities Â鶹Éç has worked within.

'While the creation of influential, authoritative research is Â鶹Éç’s core priority, this landmark is an opportunity to reflect on the broad range of services and communities Â鶹Éç has worked within', says Adrian Harrington, Chair of Â鶹Éç’s Board.

In celebration of the organisation’s two decades, Â鶹Éç will interview leading housing researchers whose careers the organisation has aided as well as key policy leaders and practitioners who have utilised Â鶹Éç’s research in their decision-making and policy formation.

The commemoration will culminate in an interactive timeline on the Â鶹Éç website, highlighting case studies of research that have influenced the Australian housing and urban policy landscape and a special '20 years of Â鶹Éç' publication to be launched at the in August.

This significant anniversary comes 12 months after the creation of Â鶹Éç’s new Strategic Plan, which guides the organisation until 2022. A robust Cities Research Program is the core of Â鶹Éç’s future plans to complement the successful and longstanding National Housing Research Program. Â鶹Éç’s new research priorities will be formulated in partnership with government and academic stakeholders along with vital input from specialists in community housing, finance, economics and the property sector.

'Â鶹Éç remains a proudly independent and national, wide-reaching network that has become an international role model for the delivery of policy relevant research,' says Dr Fotheringham. 'We are thrilled to celebrate this milestone and to continue to inform and influence policy for many more decades'.