Stranger than fiction – moving forward in Indigenous housing (apologies to M. C. Escher)

April 29th, 2013

HH is offering a prize for the person who can translate the following paragraphs and forward them to our website. 

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“Box 16.6 Dwelling condition

‘Dwelling condition’ is defined as the proportion of households living in houses of an acceptable standard for public housing, SOMIH (State Owned and Managed Indigenous Housing) and community housing. A house is assessed as being of an acceptable standard if it has at least four working facilities (for washing people, for washing clothes/bedding, for storing/preparing food, and sewerage) and not more than two major structural problems.   A high proportion for this indicator suggests higher or increasing housing quality.

‘Dwelling condition’ is defined as the proportion of dwellings in need of either major repair or replacement for ICH.
A low proportion for dwelling condition suggests higher or increasing housing quality.
Data for this indicator are reported for Public housing, SOMIH, Community housing and ICH.
Data reported for this indicator are not comparable.

Data quality information for this indicator is at www.pc.gov.au/gsp/reports/rogs/2013.”

Read a lot more of this stuff on housing by clicking here 

HH must comment on the following definition of acceptable standard 

“A house is assessed as being of an acceptable standard if it has at least four working facilities (for washing people, for washing clothes/bedding, for storing/preparing food, and sewerage) and not more than two major structural problems.”

So…does this mean electrical safety is non-essential (or would this be a structural problem !!!!) With currently 10% of Indigenous houses tested by HH being electrically safe
we think this is a serious oversight.

The 4 items look vaguely familiar …. two look to be straight from the National Indigenous Housing Guide, a good start...for washing people, for washing clothes/bedding

But then, one looks to be from the Guide but slightly mangled - for storing/preparing food
are we to assume cooking food is off the critical list ?? Raw is good and if you want cooked …… get take-away??

Number four is a bit confusing - and seweragedoes this mean deep mains sewerage is required, is a septic system is OK? Does the waste need to disappear? We advise a quick look at Healthy Living Practice 3 and also dwell on the work in Nepal for a minute.

So I guess there are a long list of things NOT required to meet an “acceptable standard” for an Indigenous person’s house … to name a few that are covered by the National Indigenous Housing Guide, National Building Code and Australian Standards.

– house design, yard design and system designs to reduce crowding 

– separating the harmful effects of animals, vermin and insects from house residents 

– dust control

– temperature control and energy efficiency

– avoiding things around the home that may cause minor injury

So in summary a desert house with a collapsed roof and living room wall that has fallen out, no stove a sewerage pipe running by the house but not connected, no electrical system, no fans opening windows, cooling system or insulation, no screens, fences or verandahs will be of an “acceptable standard”
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HH suggests whoever wrote this rubbish and collected the non-data start again. The next draft should at least try to measure performance against the measures established and agreed to by all Australian Governments.

We ask if ANYONE ever questions this nonsense …newspapers?, radio?, current affairs? TV?, bloggers? Right now, around Australia, billions of dollars are being spent to ensure Indigenous houses meet the “acceptable standard” mapped out above.

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