The slow road to a new home: The experiences of the first generation of South Sudanese Western Australians Settled in Perth

Most refugee migrants entering Australia have limited financial resources. In Australia, low-income migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds-also referred to as Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) migrants-feature as one of the groups suffering from the current Australian housing crisis, experiencing difficulty in navigating the housing market and achieving sustainable housing outcomes. This article analyses the case study of the South Sudanese migrants and profiles this group, analysing factors that contribute to improving their financial independence (education, employment and income) and housing outcomes, with the aim to evaluate their overall economic position in relation to accessing the housing market. Data shows that after an average of ten years beginning from their initial arrival in Australia, this migrant group is still struggling to improve their financial position. The article concludes by questioning the current approaches to the resettlement process concerning the attainment of suitable housing outcomes

Fast Least-Squares Pad\'e approximation of problems with normal operators and meromorphic structure

In this work, we consider the approximation of Hilbert space-valued meromorphic functions that arise as solution maps of parametric PDEs whose operator is the shift of an operator with normal and compact resolvent, e.g. the Helmholtz equation. In this restrictive setting, we propose a simplified version of the Least-Squares Pad\'e approximation technique introduced in [6] following [11]. In particular, the estimation of the poles of the target function reduces to a low-dimensional eigenproblem for a Gramian matrix, allowing for a robust and efficient numerical implementation (hence the "fast" in the name). Moreover, we prove several theoretical results that improve and extend those in [6], including the exponential decay of the error in the approximation of the poles, and the convergence in measure of the approximant to the target function. The latter result extends the classical one for scalar Pad\'e approximation to our functional framework. We provide numerical results that confirm the improved accuracy of the proposed method with respect to the one introduced in [6] for differential operators with normal and compact resolvent

MATHICSE Technical Report :Convergence analysis of Padé approximations for Helmholtz frequency response problems

The present work concerns the approximation of the solution map S associated to the parametric Helmholtz boundary value problem, i.e., the map which associates to each (real) wavenumber belonging to a given interval of interest the corresponding solution of the Helmholtz equation. We introduce a least squares rational Padé-type approximation technique applicable to any meromorphic Hilbert space-valued univariate map, and we prove the uniform convergence of the Padé approximation error on any compact subset of the interval of interest that excludes any pole. This general result is then applied to the Helmholtz solution map S, which is proven to be meromorphic in C, with a pole of order one in every (single or multiple) eigenvalue of the Laplace operator with the considered boundary conditions. Numerical tests are provided that confirm the theoretical upper bound on the Padé approximation error for the Helmholtz solution map

The new normal: changed patterns of dwelling demand and supply

This research assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patterns of housing supply and demand and how the Australian housing market has changed over recent time (including between the 2016 and 2021 Censuses). The pandemic showed just how quickly demand for housing can change and how prices and rents can rise rapidly as a result. The COVID-19 period, defined as mid-2020 to mid-2022 for the purposes of this study, saw robust price growth within Australian capital cities and even stronger growth in regional areas. In the rental market, vacancy rates fell across the country and rents rose sharply.COVID changed what households want from their dwelling: predominantly it was about having more space, both inside and out, and that was linked with the ability to work more from home. Overall, consumers continue to prefer houses over units in metropolitan areas. COVID-19 also created significant and distinct changes to population dynamics with low or negative growth within inner urban areas; growth in regional towns and cities, particularly those associated with sea and tree changes; and strong growth in traditional first home buyer areas, primarily on the urban periphery.Property sales in high-growth regions came significantly from investors who sold stock from the rental market (generally to first home buyers and second home buyers). This, in turn, reduced rental availability and vacancy rates and displaced private renters. Where investors did buy into the regional areas studied, these were at higher prices which were in turn reflected in higher rents.The research reiterates that increases in housing supply need to be carefully managed by governments, including the supply of social and affordable housing in regional areas

Ageing in a housing crisis: A gendered lens on housing insecurity and homelessness

Housing insecurity and homelessness are increasing amongst older people in Australia, and women are particularly affected. Our new report, Ageing in a housing crisis: Older people's housing insecurity and homelessness in Australia enumerates the scale of the problem and indicates a structural change in the housing experiences of older people in Australia.1 In this article, a gendered lens draws attention to how women's housing experiences are being adversely shaped and why understanding these experiences matters. We shift attention away from individual factors that drive housing and homelessness risk to focus on systemic challenges and changes within the housing system that underpin increasing life-long gender effects and housing insecurity in Australia

Stima dei danni da vento ai soprassuoli forestali in Regione Toscana a seguito dell'evento del 5 marzo 2015

Il vento è uno dei maggiori fattori di disturbo per le foreste europee e i cambiamenti climatici hanno provocato un aumento di eventi estremi negli ultimi anni. La regione Toscana tra il 4 e il 5 marzo 2015 è stata colpita da una tempesta di vento che ha provocato notevoli danni ai soprassuoli forestali. L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è di sviluppare una metodologia speditiva per la mappatura delle aree danneggiate in termini di superfici interessate, numero di piante atterrate e volume legnoso a terra. Il contributo illustra a tal fine l’utilizzo di dati telerilevati e in particolare le potenzialità dei dati Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS)