More than 45,000 Indigenous households lack adequate housing. Here’s what must change
- Written by The Conversation
Finding and affording adequate housing is a challenge many Australians face, but few more so than First Nations people. New national research shows unmet housing need among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households is double the rate of other Australians.
Indigenous people have long been recognised as particularly at-risk of experiencing poor housing. Ensuring “appropriate and affordable” housing is one of the key outcomes under Closing the Gap.
While Australia is in the middle of major housing reform, with significant new funding committed through multiple government initiatives, it won’t be enough to change the situation for First Nations people. Our new study, released today, shows that without fundamental change, current reforms will not close the gap.
The housing gap is large — and growing
Using 2021 census data, we estimate around 45,700 low-income Indigenous households had unmet housing need. That’s about one in eight Indigenous households.
Unmet need – measured by rental affordability stress, severe overcrowding and substandard housing or homelessness – differs by place.
In urban areas, rental stress dominates. In remote communities, overcrowding and poor housing persist.
Worryingly, the problem is projected to grow significantly by 2041 both because of the growing Indigenous population and the housing crisis.
Many of these households require social housing now or in coming years. Yet social housing is flat-lining at 4% of all housing. This is a social policy failure.
Read more: 55,000 extra social housing homes are being built. But a new study shows that boom still falls short
Governance is fragmented and accountability is weak
Indigenous housing spans multiple government agencies. No single minister or agency has overall responsibility.
Under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, reducing overcrowding is targeted, but rental stress and inadequate housing are not.
Our research found reporting on housing outcomes is imprecise and inconsistent. Accountability, particularly to Indigenous communities, is weak. Governance arrangements change frequently.
Despite endeavours to promote shared policy-making, such as the Housing Policy Partnership, governments continue to operate largely in “business as usual” mode.
If Closing the Gap is to succeed, Indigenous housing cannot remain dispersed across unaligned programs and hampered by unreliable short-term funding. A coherent national strategy and long-term investment plan is required.
The unfulfilled promise of self-determination
Over the past five years, all Australian governments have committed to shared decision-making and strengthening the Indigenous community-controlled sector.
In housing, this includes supporting a national housing peak body, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association.
But genuine and meaningful power-sharing remains limited. In most jurisdictions, Indigenous housing organisations are very small and financially constrained.
Outside Victoria, governments have been reluctant to transfer housing title to these organisations, limiting their autonomy and capacity to leverage finance and grow.
Community-controlled services consistently deliver culturally safer and more effective outcomes in areas such as health and child protection. Housing should be no different.
Unless this sector’s scale and capacity are improved, self-determination will remain symbolic.
Another consequence of an underfunded community sector is that it’s too small to make a big impact.
We found registered Indigenous community-controlled housing organisations manage only 13% of Indigenous social housing tenancies nationally. The rest are managed by governments or mainstream community housing providers. There is currently no national growth plan.
If governments are serious about strengthening this sector, they must commit to transferring large amounts of properties over into their control. Governments should also fund these organisations to provide new housing supply and develop their workforces.
An inappropriate system
Indigenous Australians have much lower home ownership rates than other Australians, although ownership rates have steadily increased over the past two decades.
For many in Indigenous communities, housing security is less about capital gain and more about intergenerational security and protecting collectively owned land. Policy settings rarely accommodate these preferences.
Innovative ownership models – including shared equity and community land trusts – offer potential options aligned with cultural and collective ownership traditions.
But policy support for innovative solutions has not been forthcoming.
And despite increased housing investment overall, there is limited transparency about how much funding reaches Indigenous households and organisations.
Operating and construction costs are higher, especially in remote areas. Maintenance needs and tenant support needs are often greater. Yet funding formulas rarely reflect these realities.
If housing programs are to meet Indigenous need equitably, funding must be explicitly calibrated to that need, not assumed to trickle down. This funding needs to allow for organisations to work in both urban and remote areas, and to support both buyers and renters.
A better way forward
Based on our research, we propose a framework for a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Strategy. This is built around four pillars:
strengthening governance and accountability
sufficient long-term investment
growing the Indigenous community-controlled housing sector
enhancing tenure security and choice.
A future strategy along these lines should be jointly developed by governments and Indigenous leaders. It would need to be anchored in legislation to ensure continuity beyond electoral cycles.
Most importantly, it must be guided by the principle articulated by the Indigenous housing leaders who oversaw our research: “our housing in our hands”.
The gap in Indigenous housing outcomes will close only when their housing is treated as a national priority – and when Indigenous people are entrusted with shaping its future.
