Healthabitat » Environmental Health & Design

We work with local communities to improve their homes for better health.

Our data and knowledge show that small repairs and improvements to the mechanics of a house can make a significant impact.

Housing for Health

The primary focus of Healthabitat’s work are Housing for Health projects. We work with poor people. We work in the places they live, and the work is done to improve their health. It improves the parts of their physical environment that are needed to keep people healthy.

About Housing For Health

Safety and the Nine Healthy Living Practices

Housing for Health projects are guided by Safety and the 9 Healthy Living Practices (HLP’s). These principles are derived from local, national and international health research.

These 9 goals are ordered in priority of health impact. After safety, the most important goal is washing people especially children aged 0-5 years old.

Learn About Safety and the 9 HLPs

Lack of routine maintenance

Our work focuses on improving “health hardware” or the physical equipment needed to ensure housing and environments support good health.

74% of our work is due to lack of routine maintenance. 19% of the things we fix are due to faulty construction, while just 7% is caused by damage/misuse.

Why we do the work

Improved house function

The link between a poor living environment and poor health has been long established, we know that increased house function = reduced chance of infectious disease.

We test and check and fix 250 items in every house. This work is put into a database to prioritise jobs to maximise health improvement and measure the impact our work makes.

For example, we know that nationally a Housing for Health project will improve working showers from 38% to 88%.

See our results

How to reduce poverty? Fix homes! The late Paul Pholeros at TEDx Sydney

News stay up-to-date with HH...

REFLECTION: A Plumber’s perspective on Housing for Health

04/10/2024

A plumber reflects on his involvement in a recent NT Housing for Health project. Without plumbers, electricians and builders, there is no project. Plumbing is the work that…

Australia

SUBMISSION: National Strategy for Food Security in Remote First Nations Communities

20/09/2024

National Strategy for Food Security in Remote First Nations Communities, submission call out. The Australian Government is developing a national strategy for food security in remote First Nations communities (the…

Australia

NEWSLETTER | JUNE 2024

20/06/2024

As always, thank you for your interest, generous donations, and volunteer support. Your continued support allows our team to do more, and the projects to have a bigger and broader…

Newsletter

Dave & Bobbie speak at the 2024 AHNT Conference

16/06/2024

Aboriginal Housing and Homelands Conference in Mparntwe April 2024 HH, represented by Dave and Bobbie, joined Aboriginal housing leaders, workers, residents, and organisations to address key issues in NT housing,…

Australia

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We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and acknowledge the crucial role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have in Housing for Health’s work to improve health through better housing.