NEWSLETTER | DECEMBER 2022
10,000 houses!
In November 2022, Housing for Health (HfH) projects reached the milestone of 10,072 houses fixed nationally since 1990. Across 264 projects over 250 items in each house have been checked and 315,918 items have been fixed with the health of over 50,000+ people benefited. Thank you to all the communities, team members, team leaders, project managers and partners who have made the work possible! Read more…
A number of Housing for Health (HfH) projects are currently underway in New South Wales (NSW), Northern Territory (NT), Western Australia (WA) & USA. The first Survey and emergency fix work has been completed in 4 NT HfH projects with three more projects planned to start in 2023. NSW projects are progressing although flooding continues to be problematic in some regions. We are pleased to welcome over 20 new team leaders after holding three Team Leader training sessions across NSW & NT.
We are excited to announce the launch of the Nepal Toilet Design Guide with 100% of sales funding a 5 year maintenance fund for the existing 25 school toilets, water supply, hand washing and waste systems.
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HH Team
Below is a snapshot of the NT, NSW, WA, USA projects & other work HH has been up to…
Nepal Toilet Design Guide is complete – HELP FUND MAINTENANCE!
The team did it! After 2 years of collaborating, collating and delving through the project archives, the Nepal design guide is now printed and available for viewing and purchase. It puts in one place all the work and thinking accumulated by HH in Nepal since 2015. It will be used as a comprehensive reference for future projects and we hope it can inform the process, work and material specification for other NGOs doing similar work in Nepal and other countries around the world.
100% of the book sales go directly to funding a 5 year maintenance fund of $18,500 AUD to support existing toilet projects at 4 schools (25 toilets) with ongoing maintenance and training.
The design guide has been compiled with the volunteer support of many former Sanitation Studio students, tradespeople, HH directors and general HH supporters. Thank you all, with special thanks to Bobbie Bayley for the many many hours she has put into ring mastering all the work of the rest of the team.
Read more & buy the book now on the HH website here.
Housing for Health (HfH) Projects
New South Wales (NSW) Projects
Over the past year, 14 HfH projects in partnership with NSW Health were underway in NSW with survey fix work completed in 263 houses. After 3 years pause, Team Leader training resumed in NSW to increase the pool of trained Team Leaders (see training update).
SF1 team photo
Northern Territory (NT) Projects
The first Survey-Fix is now complete in 6 of 9 HfH projects underway in NT – 8 in partnership with the NT government’s “Healthy Homes” Program and 1 with The Fred Hollows Foundation. So far, 369 of the originally proposed 515 houses have been surveyed with survey fix work completed.
Read more in the HH news item and the program.
Aputula (Finke) project update
In October the second Survey-Fix was completed. Ten local community members were trained and employed to survey and fix 38 houses across the community. After another round of fix work by plumbers, electricians and various accessibility upgrades, the project will be completed with a final report of house function rates given back to the community and the housing reference group in December.
Thank you Aputula for allowing us to work with you to improve the health of your community through targeted house surveys and fix work.
This HfH Project is funded by The Fred Hollows Foundation on behalf of a generous Donor, and.supported by Nganampa Health Council.
Read more in the HH news item.
Finke Survey-Fix 2 Team Photo
Maintaining Houses for Better Health (MHBH) in Mparntwe (Alice Springs)
The initial Survey-Fix (annual health and safety audit) of the MHBH project has now been completed. The remaining houses across the town camps were surveyed in June, bringing the total number of houses surveyed to 245 houses. The project ran in 3 stages and employed 27 community members.
Read more about the April stage of the MHBH project here.
Western Australia (WA) Projects
The first HfH project in almost a decade is underway in WA. In partnership with the Jamukurnu Yapalikurnu Aboriginal Corporation (JYAC) and The Fulcrum Agency, 32 houses in Western Desert communities have had their first Survey-Fix completed.
This project is funded by the Jamukurnu Yapalikurnu Aboriginal Corporation (JYAC) through Western Australia’s SHERP Grants (Social Housing Economic Recovery Package).
USA Projects
HfH Brownsville, USA
The Brownsville Partnerships Community Action for Healthy Homes ((CAHH) program continues to roll-out their Housing for Health Project, with 25 of the 130 apartments having completed their 2nd Survey-Fix. With their original grant fast coming to a close, the Partnership are looking at innovative ways to extend the program to its next phase, working with health insurance companies who have a vested interest in improving the health of residents.
Local Team Features’
Daniel | AEH NSW Trainee reflects on his HfH involvement
A NSW based Aboriginal Public Health Trainee recently joined a regional NSW HfH project. He shared his project reflection with HH and gave permission to share it more broadly. Read more of Daniel’s reflection here.
“I feel a renewed sense of appreciation for the scale of our beautiful land and the fire in my belly has been refueled, I can’t wait to help more people struggling in silence and their kids have access to healthy environments.”
Daniel captures the sun setting over the local river at the Housing for Health project
Training
Three team leader training sessions, held in Newcastle and Alice Springs, have welcomed over 30 new team leaders from the areas of Architecture, Environmental Health and Public Health to the HfH team. This continues to increase HH’s capacity for projects to be delivered nationally and improves links between housing and health organisations. A number of the local NT Environmental Health staff have been through Team Leader training in Alice Springs and are now out on projects working alongside community team members and applying their broad range of skills and knowledge to the work.
Team Leader training at Newcastle
Other items of interest
HH visits Melbourne 3-D printing factories
In October HH accompanied South Australia (SA) Aboriginal & Remote Housing managers to visit 3D printing companies in Melbourne to understand the viability of the technology as an option for Aboriginal housing. As the climate gets hotter and the price of construction and demand for more housing continues to grow, it is important to find new ways to provide affordable and high quality housing.
Read more about their findings here.
HH and SA Housing at Melbourne 3D factory
Welcoming in the Bucket Hat!
The iconic yellow project cap has had a revamp… Now welcoming a bucket hat version! It has proven a crowd favourite already with community members!
Team member models the new Bucket Hat
Connect
We are continuing to share news, stories and our work, advocating to stop people getting sick through their living environments.
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