In general, the economic returns to a college education have proved to be high. But for individual college graduates, the financial benefits are both variable and unpredictable. One important role of government is to provide some protection against those risks so that qualified citizens, regardless of wealth, can and will advance their education. Toward that end, well-designed student loan repayment policies should aim to ensure that borrowers with low post-college earnings do not face unmanageable payment expectations, and that those who are responsible and make manageable payments are not burdened with indefinite repayment obligations.
Such policies would help limit the risks of student loan debt for teachers, public health workers, members of the clergy, and others in lower paying but important jobs that require higher education, as well as borrowers faced with family medical crises and other unanticipated circumstances that contribute to unmanageable repayment burdens. However, the protections should not be so generous that they give borrowers an incentive to work less, earn less, or avoid repaying their loans.
This Positioning Paper is the initial output of the research project being undertaken by the AHURI Southern Research Centre to review the utility of Tenant Incentive Schemes for Australia’s State and Territory Housing Authorities (SHAs). The current environment of declining revenue budgets and changing tenant profile has encouraged SHAs to pursue innovation in policy and service delivery to achieve their objectives. Examples of such innovation include the fostering of mixed development schemes, public/private partnerships and tenant empowerment strategies. Tenant Incentive Schemes have been proposed as a further addition to that list. This research project is designed to provide a timely, evidence based contribution to the discussion of their practicality and appropriateness for the Australian public housing sector.
Recently, there has been a growing interest in the development of housing management schemes that reward public housing tenants who fulfil their tenancy obligations by offering an additional tier of benefits to those normally supplied by the landlord. The generic term to describe these schemes is ‘Tenant Incentive Schemes’ (TIS). Examples of TIS benefits include rent discounts, accelerated repair and maintenance services, shopping and leisure centre vouchers and insurance discounts. Though TIS are at an early stage of development in Australia they have been used in the UK and are claimed as a major factor in the improvements achieved by some housing organisations in their performance outputs such as rent collection rates, vacancy turnover and tenant satisfaction surveys. As this Positioning Paper reports, UK housing organisations who have established TIS assert that once start up costs have been met, TIS can result in considerable cost savings, lead to improvements in staff morale and help foster an enhanced commitment from tenants towards their home and neigh bourhood. The major pioneer and promoter of TIS in the UK is Irwell Valley Housing Association (IVHA), a medium sized association based in Manchester. Their TIS, entitled ‘Gold Star Service’ (Gold Star), has been a prototype for schemes adopted by at least 40 UK housing organisations as well as housing organisations in the Netherlands (Housing Today: 2003).
On October 7th, 2004, a workshop was held on the topic ‘Challenges for a healthy heart for European women’ at the 7th European Health Policy Forum in Gastein, Austria. The objective of this workshop was to explore the breadth of issues facing the newly enlarged Europe in the promotion and management of cardiovascular health for Europe's 228 million women.
The event featured speakers from a wide array of perspectives from across Europe the practicing cardiologist, the gynaecologist, the pharmaceutical industry, the EU policymaker, the patient advocacy group, the health economist, the health promotion organisation and the health management academic were all represented. The mix of speakers made for a lively discussion. Yet all speakers relayed similar strong messages: heart disease is the major killer of women in Europe, awareness of its importance is dismally low, and the time is ripe for focused efforts to reduce the burden that heart disease poses to women and society in general.
