“Make housing a verb.” The message from Col James on the answer phone of the I.B. Fell Housing Research Unit at Sydney University.

The recent federal budget was judged reasonable and responsible, and by and large it was, but the housing section was not. The three-page document was appalling in its naivety, lack of policy and spending commitments. The tabloids glossed over it, and a piece in the NSW AIA Newsletter actually praised it, albeit with similar motherhood statements.

My outrage was an outlier. The one thing I know a bit about was the complete budget debacle. Making matters worse, whatever good there was does not commence for another two years. So, what, if any, is the upside? That’s today’s question. The answer is inevitably to ignore the federal government and turn to local communities.

All good affordable rental housing has a strong component of the community in it, which leads us to the idea of ‘community housing’.

Community housing

We have gone from ‘housing commission’ to ‘public housing’ to ‘social housing’ as it has devolved from government by privatisation. Along the way we learnt that good ‘social housing’ has three characteristics, all involving the community.

Firstly, social housing must be indistinguishable from the dwellings around it, mixed in with surrounding houses and apartments, so the occupants feel part of a mixed community, not lumped together as some form of leper colony as they have been in the public housing ghettos.

Secondly, it should be widely distributed across the city, giving access to services and opportunities for work in many communities, not concentrated in one area. It should address the diversity of needy occupants in family make up, ethnicity and desires. Why does Mt Druitt in Sydney have upwards of 80% public housing and Mt Ku-ring-Gai has none?

Thirdly, it should be located close to services and employment, so the occupants, often poor, have walking and cycling access and do not have to rely on cars or public transport. This means they are closer to the community of the ‘local village centres’, not cast out to the far-flung suburbs because the land is cheaper, but where it’s more expensive to live.

In short, by the very nature of their housing, occupants should be integral to the common fabric of their community, not unfairly grouped or singled out or ostracized.

How to make good affordable rental housing

The formula for affordable rental housing is simply said, difficultly done. If housing as property investment has traditionally had three roughly equal components, land, construction and profit, the way to reduce the initial costs is to remove two of those: land costs and the profit.

Those two requirements then spell out who can successfully provide affordable rental housing, who has land without cost, and works on a not-for profit basis? Well, that was the government, until the neo-liberal mantra entranced our recent politicians of both big party persuasions. But all is not lost.

Government sponsored community housing

Governments own the largest portion of land in Australia. Unfortunately, the Feds love their defence land and are unwilling to give that up. So, we turn to the states. The Labor ones in WA, Queensland, and Victoria, now understand how government land can be permanently put to good use for housing. And NSW Labor is developing policies for the use of public land, some of it for affordable housing.

If our formula for good social housing is that it is modest, indistinguishable, diverse but well located, how does a large state behemoth build such housing? In the more populous states, it’s by turning to ‘community housing providers’, smallish regionally based organisations, that know their communities, and how to integrate socially progressive affordable rental housing into them.

The state is generally too big and clumsy to build the fine grain work required of social housing. Rather they should supply the land at nil cost, and fund community organisations, by mortgage, to continue their local, community-based, work.

Philanthropic community housing

One initiative in the federal budget sought to couple superannuation to social housing, although no financial incentive was proffered for that change. A more likely path is through philanthropy, although Australia has a poor record there, but we are now seeing some wealth being directed towards social housing.

A beautiful example is in North Fremantle WA where architect Michelle Blakeley has developed social housing that is innovative in so many ways: the intended occupants are women over 55 (the fastest growing cohort of people experiencing homelessness) who’ll pay a quarter of their Newstart Allowance, the one bedroom houses are ‘Passiv Haus’ standard, using digital fabrication techniques, and erected on site in weeks.

Not-for-profit community housing

Churches are renowned for owning well located land. Now some churches, driven by their congregations, are moving from ‘worship to mission’. They want to use their time and efforts and money to provide low-cost affordable social housing for their community on the land of their church, traditionally used only for worship on Sunday.

In NSW various groups have banded together as the ‘Faith Housing Alliance’ to explore ways that planning laws can be improved to enable church land can be repurposed for housing. Projects already underway include a church site in Marrickville (under construction), approval for 30 apartments in Strathfield, and a design for a hundred student units in Leichhardt. It is the local community, the congregation, who are driving this new housing model.

Indigenous community housing

We are gradually ceding land back to the right custodians, a fundamental pre-requisite for affordable community housing, but without the wherewithal for the development of their own buildings, from within the community, housing indigenous communities in regional and remote areas fails. A much bigger topic, subject of a later ToT.

These are a few green shoots emerging to tackle affordable social housing through communities. Nowhere near the numbers we had in public housing in the 1960s, but it’s a good re-start. More examples are welcome of housing where occupants gain economic stability through community projects, leading to better social, mental, and wellbeing outcomes.

Tone Wheeler is an architect / the views expressed are his / contact at [email protected]