Professor Tony Dalton

Position	Distinguished Research Fellow
School / Work Unit	Global, Urban and Social Studies
Contact Details	+(61 3) 9925 9573 tony.dalton@rmit.edu.au
Location	Building: 15 Level: 3 Room: 4 City Campus
College/Portfolio	Design & Social Context

Key activities

Tony is a professor in the RMIT Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Research Centre. He contributes to the program of urban housing research in this research centre and teaches in the areas of research strategies and urban studies.

Tony is delighted to have returned to research and teaching in 2011. Prior to this he held senior leadership positions at RMIT. He was Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation in the College of Design and Social Context (2004-2010) and Chair of Academic Board (2009-2010).

Tony is Chair of the RMIT Fair Trade Steering Committee. He also represents RMIT on the Board of ProSPER.NET an Asia-Pacific grouping of universities committed to work together to integrate Sustainable Development (SD) into postgraduate courses and curricula.

Qualifications

• Fel Dip Arch, RMIT, 1977
• Grad Dip Pub Pol, Melb, 1979
• M Soc Sci, Birmingham, UK, 1981
• PhD, RMIT, 1999

Professional interests

• Member of the Board of Directors Hanover Welfare
• Member of the Australasian Housing Institute

Accomplishments and achievments

• Order of Australia Medal (OAM) 1991 (Services to the homeless).

Research and scholarship

The focus of Tony’s research has been on changing housing markets, distributional outcomes in a period of social and economic restructuring. More recently he has developed a research interest in the issues that climate change poses for urban housing provision. This has led to research projects focusing on reinvestment in housing through renovation and the housing industry. Throughout his research he has maintained a focus on the institutional context for the making of housing policy. His research interests are connected to his long involvement in non-government sector policy work and advocacy through Shelter, ACOSS, Hanover Welfare and Housing Justice Roundtable.

Research grants

Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet industry funding 2004/2005 Analysis and development of indicators and data sets for the housing affordability for low income Victorians project, ($100,542), G. Wood, M. Berry, C., Dalton, T., Pettit, I. Allan, K. Leong and A. Stokes

ARC (Linkage) 2005 – 2008 Re-imagining the Australian suburb - Ecological Sustainability and Urban Development ($68,296 x 3), Industry Partner VicUrban, D. Mercer, Dalton, T., (RMIT) and R. Hyde (UQ)

AHURI project funding 2004 An audit of Australian and overseas policy initiatives designed to promote housing policy and economic participation goals ($22,000), Dalton, T., R. Ong, Murdoch

AHURI project funding 2008 Mortgage Default in Australia: Nature, Causes and Social and Economic Impacts ($158,000), with Berry, M., Dalton, T. and A. Nelson, RMIT AHRUI/NATSEM Research Centre

AHURI project funding 2009 What future for Australian public housing? A critical analysis K. Jacobs, V. Colic-Peisker, M. Berry, R. T.Dalton, Atkinson, A. Greenwood, Housing and Community Research Unit, University of Tasmania, Hobart

AHURI project funding 2010 Understanding the patterns, characteristics and trends in the housing sector labour force in Australia, ($142,427) T. Dalton, R. Horne, P. Chettri, L. Groenhart and J. Corcoran (UQ) RMIT AHRUI Research Centre

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation project funding 2010 Essential service workers and housing affordability: international policy responses, ($4000 Can) contribution on Australian research and policy development, RMIT AHRUI Research Centre

Department of Sustainability and Environment 2009-2010 Understanding drivers, attitudes, and barriers to green investment by landlords of private rental properties in Victoria (Stage 1 $24,860, Stage 2 $77,520) R. Horne, M. Berry, T. Dalton, RMIT AHRUI Research Centre and Centre for Design

AHURI 2010 Current labour processes and management of subcontractors: impacts on productivity in the housing construction industry, T. Dalton, R. Wakefield and R. Horne, RMIT University, Project ($129,032)

AHURI 2011 Marginal rental housing and marginal renters: A Typology for Policy, R. Goodman, K. Jacobs (U Tas), A. Nelson, T. Dalton, E. Taylor, RMIT University, ($230,000)

Research supervision

Tony Dalton is a registered research supervisor.

Students supervised in the past include:

• Johnston, Guy 2006 On the move: a longitudinal study of pathways in and out of homelessness, PhD
• Lewis, Helen 2009 Product stewardship: institutionalising corporate responsibility for packaging in Australia, PhD
• Pullman, Jason 2010 Housing to the rescue: responding to economic restructuring in Sale, MA
• Parkinson 2011 Insecurity: an employment and housing connection, PhD

Publications

Books

Dalton, T., Draper, M., Weeks, W. and Wiseman, J. (1996) Making social policy in Australia: an introduction, Allen and Unwin, Sydney

Berry M., Dalton, T., Engels, B., Whiting, K., (1999) Falling Out of Home Ownership: Mortgage Arrears and Defaults in Australia, Queensland University Press, Brisbane

Bessant, J., Watts, R., Dalton, T. Smyth, P. (2007) Talking policy: Australian social policy, Allen and Unwin, Sydney

Book chapters

Dalton, T. (2000) ‘End of an era: Challenges for Australian housing policy’ in W. Weeks and M. Quinn (eds), Issues facing Australian families (3rd ed), Longman Cheshire, Melbourne

Dalton, T. (2006) ‘Big problems but off the agenda: housing policy in Australia’, in Social policy in Australia, in McClelland, A. and Smyth, P. authors and eds, Oxford University Press, Melbourne

Dalton, T. and Binder, G. (2007) ‘Innovating for sustainability in estate development: VicUrban in metropolitan Melbourne’, Steering Sustainability: policy, practice and performance in an urbanising world, Ashgate, London and Melbourne.

Dalton, T., Horne, R., Hafkamp, W. and Lees, M. (2007) ‘Retrofitting the Australian suburbs for sustainability’, Steering Sustainability: policy, practice and performance in an urbanising world, Ashgate, London and Melbourne.

Dalton, T. (2009) 'Housing policy in Australia: big problems but well down the agenda', in Mcclelland, A. & Smyth, P. (Eds.) Social Policy in Australia: Understanding for Action, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Berry, M. and Dalton T. (2010) ‘Trading on housing wealth: political risk in an ageing society’, in S. J. Smith and B. A. Searle, The management and governance of housing wealth, Blackwell, UK

Berry, M., Dalton, T. and Nelson, A. (2011) 'The Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis on Housing and Mortgage Markets in Australia: A View from the Vulnerable', in Forrest , R. & Yip, N. (Eds.) Housing Markets And The Global Financial Crisis: The Uneven Impact on Households, Edward Elgar, London.

Dalton, T. (in press) Home Savings Grants in The International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home, edited by Smith, SJ; Elsinga, M.; Fox-O’Mahony, L; Ong, SE; Wachter, S., Elsevier

Journal articles

Berry, M., and T. Dalton (2000) 'Home Ownership into the New Millennium: View from the margins', Urban Policy and Research, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 435-54

Dalton, T. (2002) 'Which way housing policy? Housing markets and policy agendas', Just Policy: A Journal of Australian Social Policy, No. 25, pp. 3-12

Dalton, T. and Rowe, J. (2004) ‘A wasting resource: Public housing and drug use in inner city Melbourne’, Housing Studies, Vol. 19, No.2,

Berry, M. and Dalton, T. (2004) ‘Housing Prices and Policy Dilemmas: A Peculiarly Australian Problem?’ Urban Policy and Research Vol. 22, No. 1.

Dalton, T. and Ong, R. (2005) ‘Precarious employment in the urban context, the case of public housing’, Just Policy: A Journal of Australian Social Policy, September, No 35

Dalton, T. and Ong, R. (2007) ‘Welfare to Work in Australia: disability income support, housing affordability and employment incentives’ European Journal of Housing, Vol 6, No 3 pp. 275-297

Dalton, T. (2009) ‘Housing policy retrenchment: Australia and Canada compared’ Urban Studies Vol. 46, No, 1 pp. 63-91.

Maller, C., Horne, R. and Dalton, T. ‘Green renovations: intersections of daily routines, housing aspirations and narratives of environmental sustainability’, Housing, Theory and Society (forthcoming)

Research reports

Bessant, J. Coupland, H., Dalton, T., Maher, T., Rowe, J., Watts, R. (2003) Heroin users, housing and social participation: attacking social exclusion through better housing, for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, RMIT University/NATSEM Research Centre

Dalton, T. and Ong, R. (2005) An audit of Australian and overseas policy initiatives designed to promote housing policy and economic participation goals, for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, RMIT University/NATSEM Research Centre

Wood, G., Berry, M., Dalton, T., Pettit, C., Allan, I. and Leong, K. 2005, Analysis and development of Indicators and data sets for the Housing Affordability for Low Income Victorians Project, Housing Research for a Fairer Victoria: A report on recent trends and issues in Affordable Housing, September, Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, Melbourne,

Berry, M., Dalton, T. & Nelson, A. (2009) Mortgage default in Australia: nature, causes and social and economic impacts, AHURI Positioning Paper No. 114, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne.

Berry, M., Dalton, T. & Nelson, A. (2009) Mortgage Default in Australia: Nature, Causes and Social and Economic Impacts, Final Report, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne.

Horne, R., Dalton, T., Berry, M. & Strempel, A. (2009) Understanding drivers, attitudes, and barriers to ‘green’ investment by landlords of private rental properties in Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne.

Jacobs, K., Atkinson, R., Spinney, A., Colic-Peisker, V., Berry, M. & Dalton, T. (2009) What future for public housing? A critical analysis, AHURI Positioning Paper, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne.

Jacobs, K., Atkinson, R., Spinney, A., Colic-Peisker, V., Berry, M. & Dalton, T. (2009) What future for public housing? A critical analysis, AHURI Final Report, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne.