Residents of Tennant Creek, Australia, are taking matters into their own hands after years of inadequate government housing. Facing overcrowded, poorly insulated homes that lack basic amenities, they have designed their own plan for a new town.
Tennant Creek residents Norm Frank Jupurrurla and Serena Morton Nabanunga look at a cardboard model of a preliminary house design for the Wilya Janta housing collective.Tennant Creek residents Norm Frank Jupurrurla and Serena Morton Nabanunga look at a cardboard model of a preliminary house design for the Wilya Janta housing collective.
A $1bn investment in remote housing in the NT since 2017 has failed to solve the problem. A further $4bn was pledged in March in a joint announcement by the federal and Territory governments. But health experts warn that unless authorities commit to a dramatic shift in the way housing is designed and built for Indigenous communities, public health outcomes could worsen.Poor housing has been blamed for high rates of rheumatic heart disease in the NT.
Glenn Platt, the executive director of strategy and innovation at Emergent Group, says the metal trapdoor is like “having an extra glass window in the room”. The result is a home which is hotter inside than out, a significant health risk when temperatures are frequently above 40C. “Diseases like rheumatic heart disease are better termed diseases of poverty; driven by overcrowded housing, lack of access to washing facilities and palatable drinking water that is unfortunately too common in remote communities, particularly in the central region,” he says.Overcrowded environments increase the chances of repeated exposure to streptococcus bacteria.
Housing Crisis Indigenous Communities Remote Housing Public Health Community Engagement
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