Wilya Janta (Standing Strong) housing collaboration welcomes the $4 billion remote housing agreement announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today.
“We commend the federal and territory governments, land councils, and housing on this agreement, which will invest urgently-needed funding to fix the longstanding remote housing crisis,” Wilya Janta CEO Dr Simon Quilty said.
“The current model of community engagement in housing design is failing. Homes in remote communities are overcrowded and overheated, fuelling the social, health, and cultural inequities faced by Aboriginal communities.
“While commendable, this funding will only make a difference if governments are genuinely committed to engaging with community and working on innovative solutions to housing design and evaluation.
“Building houses is one thing, building trust and community is another.”
Jimmy Frank Jupurrurla, a Warumungu man and Chair of Wilya Janta, knows these issues too well.
“Governments focus too much on cost efficiency and doing things quickly, but in the long run, these houses are making our people sick, our well being is forgotten. The new houses being built today are not designed for our culture or our climate,” Mr Frank (Jupurrurla) said.
“This announcement by Prime Minister Albanese is really good, and us Wumpurrarni people really want to work with government to make the money go to really good things.
“Climate change, what we expect in the next 20 years, these houses need to be prepared for really hot weather.”
Wilya Janta is working with community and industry to build community-designed homes in Tennant Creek, which will act as a feasibility study for culturally appropriate and climate resilient housing as temperatures continue to rise.
The collaboration is currently seeking partnerships with government and community housing providers to ensure broad adoption of the Wilya Janta model for community directed housing design.
