Closing the Gap Research

One of the clearest findings to emerge from all components of the research is that crowding in First Nations households is a fact of life.  All national jurisdictions examined here provide evidence of a universal pattern of reciprocal relationships, kinship support, cultural belonging and embedded identity found in the practice of sharing a home.

Obligation or ‘way of being’

From a landlord and tenancy management perspective, we heard multiple times that there was an ‘obligation’ to provide accommodation for extended family and kinship group members. The community perspective provided by our focus group and interviews points to a far deeper, cultural relationship than a simple obligation.

Borrowing from literature on indigenous education and knowledge systems we will use the term ‘way of being’ to describe how First Nations knowledge systems and ways of knowing differ significantly from colonial cultures. This in turn shapes cultural practices that are embedded in First Nations world views.  These constitute something deeper than Western notions of values and are embedded in identity and a ‘way of being’.

The wholistic way of being does not recognise the externality of overcrowding but sees it as a fundamental aspect of culture, identity and being, in an interconnected world view.

This differs significantly from the housing institutional perspective that crowding is something almost voluntary and capable of being controlled and prevented where necessary. For the First Nations individual or family this would require a denial of the self and the way of being.

Financial hardship

There was considerable discussion in the focus group around the pressures experienced on the household budget during periods of crowding. Additional costs were associated with additional use of electricity, gas, water and with feeding additional residents. Participants discussed relying on curries and soups as cheap meals, which were sometimes prepared in advance and frozen, ready for unexpected visits. There was also resort to foodbank contributions at times. However, participants were clear that they would not expect contributions to the additional costs from visitors. as this was not part of their culture.

Cost pressures were often behind the reason for additional residents.  For example, petrol costs for a journey from a remote community often caused extended stays to cover gaps between medical appointments, where travel home and return would be financially prohibitive. Participants were also aware of instances in their community where two families were sharing homes to relieve hardship experienced by one or both parties, although none of them had personally experienced this.

From the landlord perspective, there is an increased risk of rental and utility debt occurring during times of ‘over-occupancy’ and this can be mitigated by providing support and opportunities to maximise household income through referral to brokerage support, EAPA payments and food banks/charities.

Pressure on housing infrastructure

Another key pressure experienced was the impact on household infrastructure for bathing, laundry and cooking. All participants cited experience of inadequate household infrastructure to cope with additional residents. Bathing and toilet facilities came under particular pressure, for example most properties having only one toilet. One participant cited having two bathrooms as ‘lucky’ in that she experienced no problems, even when very overcrowded. Participants also cited how all rooms are at times utilised as sleeping quarters, including the bathroom.

In most instances smaller numbers were involved, with perhaps two or three relatives attending to support a hospital appointment and most coped with just the lounge providing additional sleeping space.

Disposing of kitchen waste and general household refuse were also mentioned, as insufficient bins at the best of times became a critical gap when additional residents increase the amount of refuse needing disposal.

Policy Recommendations

Crowding episodes in First Nations households are not something that can be legislated or regulated out of existence.  To do so would remove fundamental aspects of cultural identity and a ‘way of being’. It would also contravene the human right to culturally appropriate housing, enshrined in the 1997 United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1997). From, the research conducted in this study we identify several ways in which First Nations households can be supported when crowding occurs.

Internal policy change

Some recommended policy changes apply internally to Home in Place and support a consolidation and formalisation of our current procedures, which may not currently be applied uniformly across all branches and by individual staff.

Recommendation 1

Home in Place should develop a distinct First Nations Household Crowding Policy which identifies clearly and formalises the current informal flexibility of tenancy management in cases of First Nations household crowding and unauthorised occupancy. Current actions are identified in Section 9. This policy should be distinct from general over-occupancy policy and procedure.

Recommendation 2

Home in Place should provide training to relevant staff on crowding issues, cultural safety and the right to culturally appropriate housing.

Recommendation 3

Home in Place  develops a strategy to recruit and retain First Nations employees, particularly in the areas identified in this report with a high proportion of First Nations tenant households.

These recommendations for implementation by Home in Place are of relevance to other housing agencies and there may be some benefit in DCJ considering the publication of guidance, or even direction, which promotes similar outcomes to ensure that how crowding is supported or policed is not a lottery dependent on the perspective taken by an institution or its individual employees.

External policy change

Housing design should focus on the number of people housed, aligning with sociospatial patterns of sleeping arrangements, and consider the large numbers of people likely to inhabit one house. Provision of more bathrooms and larger kitchen facilities, outdoor living and sleeping spaces and flexible internal spatial arrangement
would produce a better cultural fit and reduce both stress and household wear and tear (Memmot et al, 2012, p3)

The measures identified by Memmot et al and cited above, remain apposite and are yet to be fully implemented for First Nations housing in Australia.

In identifying current First Nations housing conditions in remote Australia, Rodd et al (2022) cite the 2006 United Nations Special Rapporteur condemnation of Australia’s aboriginal housing and the 2017 visit conclusion that few improvements had been made.

Fundamentally, there has been little attempt to involve First Nations communities in the codesign of housing that would better meet housing quality, climatic comfort and cultural requirements (Rodd et al, 2022).

The authors report on a limited exercise in a remote community which built one codesigned home. As well as achieving a low-cost, climatically mitigating and culturally sensitive dwelling, the project also reported considerably improved social and physical outcomes ‘including social and emotional wellbeing, house quality and comfort, energy consumption, long-term maintenance, community physical and mental health, and pride and ownership’ (p23).  Although, a small-scale project and not scalable as a generalised solution to housing challenges, the project does point to some of the advantages of co-design and where feasible co-production, the latter offering opportunities for training, prison diversion and community sense of ownership.

Recommendation 4

That DCJ investigates further, in collaboration with the Aboriginal Housing Office (AHO), the potential advantages of co-design and co-production for future building programs for First Nations housing.

Recommendation 5

In considering design of First Nations housing, DCJ and other agencies should reflect patterns of mobility and visitation by family and kinship groups and promote both the capacity to host visitors, but also protect the privacy and integrity of the core resident family.

There are relatively simple measures that can achieve this, and several can be ‘retrofitted’ to existing properties. This includes use of outdoor spaces for cooking, yarning and cultural activities:

As well as offering spatial relief for large households, it can be argued that yards have been highly useful in maintenance of social practices and kinship networks (O’Rourke and Nash, 2019, p126)

Where additional toilet or bathing facilities are added to properties, these could have external only entry points, without requiring passage through the main house, thereby providing some privacy for the formal residents. Additionally, flexibility of floor space can be achieved for lounges and larger rooms to permit temporary sleeping arrangements. Housing design and refurbishment should also be conscious of gender separation as a cultural practice (Rodd et al, 2022).

The additional strain on existing housing infrastructure can also be recognised by prioritising repairs of critical bathing, laundry, toilet and cooking facilities during periods of crowding.

Recommendation 6

Careful monitoring of and dialogue with the primary resident should be continuous during periods of crowding to inform the support, repair and compliance actions taken by the housing agency.

Finally, it is desirable that there is uniformity of practice across all housing agencies and that the degree of flexibility identified in this research is delivered consistently regardless of the agency.  Just as the right to an additional bedroom for First Nations tenants is specified by DCJ then there is a case for mandating the treatment of crowding issues for all agencies to comply with.

Recommendation 7

That following a full assessment of the implications of this Closing the Gap research with four CHPs and the report from the MRP, DCJ considers the development of guidance for all housing agencies that identifies a uniform treatment of instances of crowding in First nations households.  This might include a developed version of the Assessment Toolkit provided in the following Section.