Housing in remote communities

Houses are complex systems. They consist of many different parts and components - the walls, the roofs, the fittings and fixtures, the pipes - and are usually designed to suit the family size and the local environments. Houses are also sites of complex interactions between parts of the house such as the washing machine and water supply, and the residents and visitors who live in and use them. In remote communities, housing also interacts with issues of remoteness, poor service delivery and unique cultural and social events and relationships.

There are many issues around housing in remote communities.

• There are not enough houses for people,
• Many houses are in disrepair,
• New house construction is costly and takes time
• Maintenance and care of existing stocks is a huge challenge for householders themselves and service agencies.
• People are frequently moving, putting pressure on houses as the numbers of residents fluctuate.
• Residents are tenants rather than home owners

Addressing these issues means looking beyond issues with the individual parts of a house - whether there are enough bedrooms or whether the health hardware is functioning well.  It means understanding how the house works for its users; how householders' needs and aspirations are supported or frustrated by the technologies utilised or managing processes; how behaviour improves or spoils features; how interventions increase or indeed or how the house system functions. A new stove may enable better nutrition but only if the residents can afford the electricity and food, know how to use the stove and keep it working well.

Applying a systems thinking approach to housing can bring understanding of why problems recur despite well intended interventions and why some things have been made worse by past attempts to fix the problems.

CAT works to identify the best leverage points for effective and systemic improvements. This includes how to improve the lifecycles of housing, better models of service delivery, improved capacity of householders to manage and maintain the houses and essential facilities such as water and energy. It also includes appraising patterns of mobility and urban drift and home ownership opportunities.