Photo courtesy of Healthabitat

Research Themes and Major Projects

Exploring the myth of the single solution

An anthropological study of housing maintenance and infrastructure issues in Australia

Despite long term, widespread acknowledgement of the dire state of Indigenous housing in Australia, government policy has comprehensively failed to address the issue. As a result, Indigenous Australians continue to live in worse conditions than any other group in the country.

Indigenous housing is a core challenge for improving Australia’s social and economic fabric. Urgent issues of amenity, maintenance and responsibility remain unresolved. This research will document what is involved in taking a difficult yet successful intervention model for targeting small-scale repairs and maintenance to scale in Australia. Working with project partner Healthabitat, the research will shed critical light on the complexities of program replication and effect; the social and political context such programs operate within; and the characteristics required for sustained reform.

It will also add an Australian contribution to a growing international field: the anthropology of policy, aid and development.

Project leader: Associate Professor Tess Lea

Project Partner: Healthabitat

Funding: Australian Research Council, Healthabitat