Institute calls for $4 billion First Nations housing investment

The Australian Institute of Architects has urged the federal government to accelerate the progress of First Nations housing development by investing more funds into social housing.

In a pre-budget submission to the federal government regarding the 2024 Australian Government Budget, the Institute proposed an additional $4 billion should be allocated to the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) for a dedicated $4 billion fund aimed at First Nations codesigned social housing. The Institute further recommended that the First Nations-specific funding should be within a pool of additional $10 billion of social and affordable housing.

Institute national president, Stuart Tanner, said the Productivity Commission's recent Review on Closing the Gap underscored the crucial policy changes required to meet housing delivery targets.

He emphasized that housing priority should be given to First Nations Australians as this would assist with addressing the concerning statistic, revealed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, that one in five residences inhabited by Indigenous people do not meet an acceptable standard.

"Australia needs better and more culturally appropriate housing for our First Nations people," Tanner said. "A codesign process together with First Nations peoples can support communities to build and maintain housing and local economies through construction and skills development.

"A safe, secure and sustainable home has become out of reach for many households. We need to increase the supply of housing to change the dynamics and provide the human right of shelter to all Australians."

The pre-budget submission also called for better policies and funding toward energy efficiency, decarbonization of construction, accessibility and greater design oversight for housing and the built environment. It stated social and affordable housing projects should be overseen by design practitioners to guarantee that dwellings are habitable, appropriate, safe, energy efficient and cost-effective.

Also requested in the proposal was the establishment of an initial $500 million fund to facilitate research on net-zero building materials, help academic institutions to commercialize these products and support local manufacturing with the overall goal of expediting the development of low-carbon buildings. Further, the Institute proposed a $50 million advance for targeted professional development and skills training in energy efficiency and condensation mitigation, as well as a $10 million initiative to research and develop guidelines for adaptive reuse and retrofitting of buildings to support decarbonization and landfill waste reduction.