Aboriginal Housing Research Articles

Indigenous Housing Rights and Colonial Sovereignty: Self-Determination and Housing Rights beyond a White Possessive Frame

Through the lens of Aileen Moreton-Robinson's ‘white possessive logics’, this article addresses a series of legal cases concerning inhumane Aboriginal housing in the Northern Territory of Australia. It critiques successive government policies in relation to First Nations people since the colonisation of the Northern Territory in the nineteenth century, setting the cases in their historical context of ongoing subordination of First Nations people to the interests of white possession of land and governance. We argue that domestic law pertaining to First Nations housing rights manifests white possessive logics. Such control can only be overcome through affording First Nations communities self-determination over housing in accordance with international law and First Nations claims. Self-determination and sovereignty are antidotes to the colonial histories that underlie inadequate housing for Indigenous peoples not only in Australia but across settler colonies. In developing this argument, we draw on international law and honour the advocacy of Northern Territory Aboriginal communities who have struggled for community-control over housing and homelands over successive generations.

Social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Aboriginal controlled social housing

BackgroundLittle is known about the wellbeing and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in social housing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in social housing face common social housing challenges of low income, higher incidence of mental health issues and poorer health along with specific challenges due to the impacts of colonisation and its ongoing manifestations in racism and inequity. A greater understanding of social and emotional wellbeing needs and aspirations is essential in informing the provision of appropriate support.MethodsSurveys of social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) were completed by 95 Aboriginal people aged 16 years and older living in Aboriginal Housing Victoria social housing in 2021. The survey addressed a range of domains reflecting social and emotional wellbeing, as defined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.ResultsMost respondents demonstrated a strong sense of identity and connection to family however 26% reported having 6 or more health conditions. Ill health and disability were reported to be employment barriers for almost a third of people (32%). Improving health and wellbeing (78%) was the most cited aspiration. Experiences of racism and ill health influenced engagement with organisations and correspondingly education and employment.ConclusionStrong connections to identity, family and culture in Aboriginal peoples living in social housing coexist along with disrupted connections to mind, body and community. Culturally safe and appropriate pathways to community services and facilities can enhance these connections. Research aimed at evaluating the impact of strengths-based interventions that focus on existing strong connections will be important in understanding whether this approach is effective in improving SEWB in this population.Trial Registration: This trial was retrospectively registered with the ISRCTN Register on the 12/7/21 with the study ID:ISRCTN33665735.

The Aspirations and Wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Involved in a Research Project: A Study Protocol

ABSTRACT Community-based research, which involves working alongside communities, is being increasingly implemented. This paper outlines a protocol developed to explore the impact of involvement by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers and life coaches in a community-based project on their aspirations and wellbeing. The proposed study will implement a mixed-methods longitudinal design, including peer researchers, life coaches and staff at Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV). Peer researchers and life coaches will participate in a survey and interview at baseline and 6 months. The survey and interview will capture participants’ wellbeing, aspirations, and resilience. AHV staff will participate in an interview to explore their opinions regarding the project and its impact on the broader community at baseline and 6 months. This study will contribute to the literature, which advocates for Indigenous Peoples’ genuine and authentic inclusion in research. An expected outcome of the research is that it will enhance our understanding of the goals and aspirations among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples working within the space of community-based research. In doing so, policy can focus on adhering to these goals and aspirations, thereby promoting self-determination among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Evaluation of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander strengths based coaching program: a study protocol

BackgroundIncreasingly, strength-based approaches to health and wellbeing interventions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are being explored. This is a welcome counter to deficit-based initiatives which can represent a non-Indigenous view of outcomes of interest. However, the evidence base is not well developed. This paper presents the protocol for evaluating a strengths-based initiative which provides life coaching services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community housing tenants. The study aims to evaluate the effect of life coaching on social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) of tenants in three Victorian regions.MethodsThe More Than a Landlord (MTAL) study is a prospective cohort study of Aboriginal Housing Victoria tenants aged 16 years and over that embeds the evaluation of a life coaching program. All tenant holders in one metropolitan and two regional areas of Victoria are invited to participate in a survey of SEWB, containing items consistent with key categories of SEWB as understood and defined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and key demographics, administered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peer researchers at baseline, 6 and 18 months. Survey participants are then invited to participate in strengths based life coaching, using the GROW model, for a duration of up to 18 months. Indigenous life coaches provide tenants with structured support in identifying and making progress towards their goals and aspirations, rather than needs. The study aims to recruit a minimum of 200 survey participants of which it is anticipated that approximately 73% will agree to life coaching.DiscussionThe MTAL study is a response to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and organisational requests to build the evidence base for an initiative originally developed and piloted within an Aboriginal controlled organisation. The study design aligns with key principles for research in Indigenous communities in promoting control, decision making and capacity building. The MTAL study will provide essential evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of strengths-based initiatives in promoting SEWB in these communities and provide new evidence about the relationship between strengths, resilience, self-determination and wellbeing outcomes.Trial registrationThis trial was retrospectively registered with the ISRCTN Register on the 12/7/21 with the study ID:ISRCTN33665735.

Wongee Mia: An Innovative Family-Centred Approach to Addressing Aboriginal Housing Needs and Preventing Eviction in Australia.

Background: Aboriginal Australians are disproportionately affected by homelessness, with traditional housing models failing to recognise the importance of kinship obligations and ongoing systemic racism. The Wongee Mia project is a pilot initiative emerging out of a Housing First project tackling homelessness among Perth’s most vulnerable rough sleepers. The project takes a different approach to working with and providing long-term housing to Aboriginal families in Perth, Western Australia. Methods: The Wongee Mia project is centred around one person “Robby” and his family to prevent eviction. Data are collected from monthly action research meetings, yarning sessions with family Elders, and case notes. Results: The project identified 32 family members who had potential to place “Robby’s” tenancy at risk. As at December 2019, 29 members of Robby’s family have been supported by the Wongee Mia case workers, and five have been housed. Key elements of Wongee Mia are the broader links to end homelessness initiatives (the Housing First program), the cultural backgrounds of the case workers and their ability to connect in a meaningful way with the family, Elder involvement (including the co-production of this paper), and an underlying action research model enabling program delivery improvements. Conclusion: The Wongee Mia project offers an innovative way of working with families to prevent unnecessary eviction by working through the whole family’s needs rather than those of an individual in relation to housing.

Uses of the Vernacular in the Design of Indigenous Housing

ABSTRACTIn the mid-twentieth century, architecture and planning were well established as tools of assimilation that segregated Aboriginal people from their lands, their culture and social structures. Coordinated efforts to design more culturally appropriate housing for Aboriginal people began in the early 1970s after the media, academics and Indigenous activism of the 1960s raised national awareness about the poor state of Aboriginal housing. The housing deficit was a major challenge but, additionally, what was an appropriate house for people with diverse cultural backgrounds and limited experience of conventional housing? Established by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1972, the Aboriginal Housing Panel sought answers to this question. This paper examines the relationship between the design of Indigenous housing in the 1970s and the re-evaluation of vernacular buildings and settlements. Using archival evidence from the period the paper analyses the influence of the Indigenous building traditions on housing design and architectural research. The use of ethnographic methods and data in developing new housing types helped to establish a distinctive approach to cross-cultural design.

Going on a Field Trip: Critical Geographical Walking Tours and Tactical Media as Urban Praxis in Sydney, Australia

Going on a Field Trip: Critical Geographical Walking Tours and Tactical Media as Urban Praxis in Sydney, Australia

Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters

BackgroundHousing is a key determinant of the poor health of Aboriginal Australians. Most Aboriginal people live in cities and large towns, yet research into housing conditions has largely focused on those living in remote areas. This paper measures the prevalence of housing problems amongst participants in a study of urban Aboriginal families in New South Wales, Australia, and examines the relationship between tenure type and exposure to housing problems.MethodsCross-sectional survey data was provided by 600 caregivers of 1406 Aboriginal children aged 0–17 years participating in Phase One of the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH). Regression modelling of the associations between tenure type (own/mortgage, private rental or social housing) and housing problems was conducted, adjusting for sociodemographic factors.ResultsThe majority (60%) of SEARCH households lived in social housing, 21% rented privately and 19% either owned their home outright or were paying a mortgage (“owned”). Housing problems were common, particularly structural problems, damp and mildew, vermin, crowding and unaffordability. Physical dwelling problems were most prevalent for those living in social housing, who were more likely to report three or more physical dwelling problems than those in owned (PR 3.19, 95%CI 1.97, 5.73) or privately rented homes (PR 1.49, 1.11, 2.08). However, those in social housing were the least likely to report affordability problems. Those in private rental moved home most frequently; children in private rental were more than three times as likely to have lived in four or more homes since birth than those in owned homes (PR 3.19, 95%CI 1.97, 5.73). Those in social housing were almost half as likely as those in private rental to have lived in four or more homes since birth (PR 0.56, 95%CI 0.14, 0.77). Crowding did not vary significantly by tenure type.ConclusionsThe high prevalence of housing problems amongst study participants suggests that urban Aboriginal housing requires further attention as part of efforts to reduce the social and health disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal Australians. Particular attention should be directed to the needs of those renting in the private and social housing sectors, who are experiencing the poorest dwelling conditions.

Towards an Urban Aboriginal Housing and Wellness Strategy for Metro Vancouver, 2015-2020

Towards an Urban Aboriginal Housing and Wellness Strategy for Metro Vancouver, 2015-2020

An Artifact Assemblage from Area B at the Grace Creek Site (41GG33), Gregg County, Texas

The Grace Creek #1 site (41GG33, GC–1) was situated on a natural alluvial rise on the east side of Grace Creek, about 0.4 km north of its confluence with the Sabine River. On the north side of the site was an abandoned Sabine River lake bed, while to the south was an old channel, as well as a channel lake (Muddy Lake), of the Sabine River. Jones divided the site into three areas (A, B, and C); a midden deposit was apparently located in Area B on the central part of the rise. Buddy Calvin Jones identified and worked at the Grace Creek #1 site between 1954 and 1956, while the site was being destroyed for the construction of an earthen dike along Grace Creek and the Sabine River. In addition to the extensive surface collection of projectile points, lithic tools, and ceramic sherds he found there, in areas A–C, Jones also conducted limited excavations in areas where apparently organically–stained soil and possible feature stains were noted on the scraped surface of the site. In these excavations, he documented midden deposits, a flexed burial in the midden deposits in Area B, two pit features in this area, and several small (ca. 10 cm in diameter) post holes in Area C. Jones' map of the site did not indicate the location of the excavations in Area C, but Jones suggested that aboriginal houses were likely present here. The ceramic artifacts discussed in this article are from a fire pit in Area B that was excavated by Buddy Jones in October 1956. There are also a number of arrow points in the collections from the site, as well as a large ceramic elbow pipe. These materials are in the collections of the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview, Texas.

Home in the City: Urban Aboriginal Housing and Living Conditions ed. by Alan B. Andersen (review)

Home in the City: Urban Aboriginal Housing and Living Conditions ed. by Alan B. Andersen (review)

From Camp Life to Suburbia: Aboriginal Housing in Perth

Until the 1960s, camps provided the primary mode of accommodation for Aborigines living in Perth. This article charts relations between government, white residents and Aborigines who identified as ‘campies’ and outlines the shift from camp life to suburbia that occurred in Perth during the second half of the twentieth century. It shows that the state appropriated the right to administer and manage Aboriginal welfare, but squandered opportunities to do so adequately. It demonstrates how sanitation and inspections were used as mechanisms of control that limited the autonomy of the campies by confining their movements and visibility. The article argues that campies were routinely treated as a ‘nuisance’ and quite invisible in terms of housing policy until 1953. Moreover, implementation of Aboriginal housing in the 1970s failed because urban Aboriginal culture was profoundly misunderstood.

Aboriginal contributions to the evaluation of housing (and to postcolonial theory)

Housing Reference Groups (HRGs) began to be established in remote Northern Territory (NT) Aboriginal communities in 2009 when the Northern Territory Government compulsorily acquired remote Aboriginal housing and closed down 75 Aboriginal Housing associations. In this highly contested context, we were invited to undertake an evaluation of the HRGs. Through both open discussion and semi-structured interviews, we learnt from the Aboriginal people we worked with to see a much wider, more structural understanding of housing and its governance. This in turn led us to reflect upon Aboriginal contributions to the theory and practice of evaluation, and their various relations to received theories such as social justice, pragmatist philosophy and ethics, and Frierian conscientization. This collaborative ground-up evaluation process contributed to our own ongoing practices of evaluation, and possibly to some slight but reverberating changes in government policy and practice.

Housing and Aboriginal People in Urban Centres: A Quantitative Evaluation

This paper explores the current state of urban Aboriginal housing in Canada, by providing an up-to-date mapping of national urban Aboriginal housing conditions. This paper demonstrates that home ownership helps to reduce the gap between mainstream and Aboriginal rates of core housing need, for Aboriginal renters are substantially worse off than their non-Aboriginal counterparts in terms of core housing need and overcrowding. Métis and Non-Status Indians are also more likely to become homeowners than Status Indians and Inuit. A cyclical process is identified that hinders urban Aboriginal homeownership, and home rental advancement is also discussed. Existing federal housing programs are inadequate to address the housing and homeless issues identified. We highlight the need to establish proactive policies, the goal being to facilitate individual transition into urban centres, thereby helping to ameliorate existing housing disparities.

Room to Move: Contemporary Alyawara Settlement Patterns and their Implications for Aboriginal Housing Policy

MankindVolume 11, Issue 2 p. 119-131 Room to Move: Contemporary Alyawara Settlement Patterns and their Implications for Aboriginal Housing Policy JAMES F. O'CONNELL, JAMES F. O'CONNELL Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.Search for more papers by this author JAMES F. O'CONNELL, JAMES F. O'CONNELL Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.Search for more papers by this author First published: December 1977 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1977.tb01173.xCitations: 7AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume11, Issue2December 1977Pages 119-131 RelatedInformation

This Is Not a Pipe: The Treacheries of Indigenous Housing

This essay describes the surreality of Aboriginal housing in Australia, where images reroute remedial concern from the literal conditions toward a pathologization of the indigenous householder. Using governmental data against governmental interpretation, the essay shows how a pragmatic issue of substandard original construction, undersupervised repairs, poor to nonexistent maintenance, and rapid shifts in policy attention is hidden to reinsert householders as the main culprits of substandard living conditions in many Aboriginal communities. A dirty literalism that sees the surreal in the everyday is required to unpack the means and the methods through which such maneuvers are made.

Ties that Bind: Photographs, Personhood, and Image Relations in Northeastern Australia

Photographs are a ubiquitous feature of Aboriginal life in Northeastern Australia, with images of relatives being prominently displayed in most Aboriginal houses. This display of photographs is tied to a form of distributed personhood that draws on photographs to create a sense of social immediacy in the absence of close kin. This sense of immediacy also occurs in relation to photographs of the dead, giving these images a particular force for Aboriginal viewers. But further consideration of this force of photographic images suggests that they should be treated neither as things nor as aspects of persons, despite their seeming ability to manifest agency in Aboriginal life-worlds.

Seeing like an Inuit family: The relationship between house form and culture in northern Canada

In his classic essay Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo, Marcel Mauss argued that a strong relationship exists between the spatial organisation of traditional Inuit house forms and the social morphology of the families they shelter. These observations anticipate later works in anthropology that examine how cultural processes are reflected in, and sustained by, the built environment. Such ideas are important when considering the effects of post-war housing programs on Inuit families in the Canadian Arctic. During the 1960s, attempts were made to restructure the routines of Inuit families through Euro-Canadian architecture and home economics classes. Recent ethnographic observations of Inuit households in operation, however, reveal that many continue to use their houses in traditional ways. By doing so, Inuit families are attempting to adapt to dwellings designed around another culture’s concept of homemaking and family life. Mauss’s ideas are therefore a poignant reminder of the need to take cultural factors into account when developing aboriginal housing policy.

The state of health hardware in Aboriginal communities in rural and remote Australia.

Many of the health problems faced by rural and remote Aboriginal people have been attributed to a poor living environment. In the mid 1980s we began a process of defining problems with the immediate living environment that would affect health. These related particularly to safety, washing and hygiene practice. Between January 1999 and November 2006 we undertook a standardised and detailed assessment of housing in Aboriginal communities. This involved an initial assessment of 250 items in each house and living area, focusing on performance and their impact on these healthy living practices. At the first survey-fix we implemented a limited cost repair of non-functioning health hardware and then six months later returned to the communities for a repeat assessment to examine improvement in performance. Between January 1999 and November 2006 we assessed 4,343 houses in 132 communities in four States and the Northern Territory during survey-fix 1 (SF1) and have repeated that survey-fix assessment (SF2) in 3,448 houses in 112 of those communities. This survey demonstrates extraordinarily poor performance of Aboriginal houses. In the survey period, 71,869 items referred for repair by survey teams were inspected by licensed electricians or plumbers and 49,499 of these have so far been fixed. Only 10% of these house items requiring repair were due to vandalism or misuse. Improvements in the living environment for Aboriginal people will require a sustained commitment to the planning, funding and implementation of maintenance programs in addition to adherence to the design, construction and supervision detail outlined in the National Indigenous Housing Guide.

Unfriendly Architecture: Using Observations of Inuit Spatial Behavior to Design Culturally Sustaining Houses in Arctic Canada

In the decades following the Second World War, Inuit of the Canadian Arctic were introduced to Euro-Canadian architecture in communities that were scattered throughout the North. These houses, and the settlements in which they were situated, were spatially designed around Euro-Canadian concepts of family, community, economics and administrative control. Direct observations of space use by Inuit families were carried out in a remote Canadian Arctic community, and interpreted using space syntax analysis and agency theory. The results of this study indicate that the programmatic categories typically used to structure Euro-Canadian houses, such as bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms and porches, are rarely adhered to by Inuit families. While this apparent mismatch between intended versus actual uses of space may appear arbitrary, it is, in fact, systematically matched to the spatial structure of the houses they inhabit. These interpretations have important implications for the development of aboriginal housing policy in northern Canada.