The limits of community housing regulation

What is the purpose of community housing regulation and what can we hope it might achieve? This article examines the National Regulatory System for Community Housing (NRSCH) and its effective standardisation of non-government housing regulation across Australia. In particular, the article explores the relevance of the NRSCH to remote community housing in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT). As a unique context for which the NRSCH was not designed, but where its application has been promoted as a means to grow a community housing sector, this case study highlights the limits of community housing regulation, including for more ‘mainstream’ contexts. We consider the promise of community housing regulation as a mechanism to increase community control of remote housing, while highlighting the challenges of replicating this bureaucratic arrangement for remote communities. The article argues that the benefits of community housing regulation are only likely to be reaped where supportive policy frameworks and reliable government investment are also established and sustained.