‘Building Homes That Last’ – a good idea
Read the paper as you look through the pictures below of houses that were renovated under the current National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing.
The pictures of (2 houses in the north of Australia) were taken before tenants had moved into the house, all works were completed and signed off as complete by all parties involved in the project.
The inspections by HH, using the standard Housing for Health survey checks and tests, were done with the full knowledge of the local Indigenous community, a representative of housing authority and were overseen by an independent lawyer.
Costing for the renovations were hard to obtain but the official figures state the average cost per house for upgrading houses is $75,000 per house.
HH visited the same 2 houses in 2008 as part of a community wide Housing for Health project. WIth the $7,500 available to be spent on each house during that Housing for Health project, both houses achieved improved function.
After the $75,000 per house, spent by the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, both houses had less function than at the end of 2008. Electrical safety, fire safety, shower, kitchen and waste water drainage all had poorer function.
Over the coming months HH will be showing more examples of the work being produced nationally under the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing. HH hasn’t the resources to inspect every house built or upgraded by the national program nor to make them work before tenants move into the houses.
The onus of proof that completed houses provide basic function for tenants is that of the various state governments responsible for program delivery and the Australian government, as the maker of Indigenous housing policy and the provider of the funding.
HH agrees that homes should
last … to achieve this goal it would help if both new and renovated houses were built to function
first
.
