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- Habitat 21 Housing Project
Beyond Shelter's aim is to ensure that 'affordable' homes are those that cost no more than 3 times the family income. Can this be done?
YES, of course but you really need to read more to see how we can do it..
Background
Eric Hunting, in "The Nature of Form", wrote "The sudden realisation that natural resources were not endless and that technology alone could not solve every problem came as a slap in the face to the western world and forced architects to face up to three critical errors in judgement over the past century; First, they had encouraged a dependency upon high-energy non-sustainable products of industry without regard for their impact on the environment or the long term viability of the resources required.
Suddenly faced with the seemingly imminent depletion of those resources, architects had no viable alternatives to offer.
The initial attempts to accommodate a public and political demand for energy conservation involved increasing the energy efficiency of homes by sealing them up and this exposed the second great blunder.
Increasing numbers of people began to get ill because the air in their homes was being polluted by the chemical-laden industrial materials used to build and maintain them.
Some analysts today have suggested that as much as 50% of all illness in western countries can be linked in some way to indoor air pollution.
The "...machine for living in" has become a Frankenstein's monster because architects and builders had simply assumed high-tech industrial materials were better without taking full account of their potential impact on people's health.
The third great blunder of the contemporary architects was to embrace and standardise building technologies which the common man could not use by himself.
The delusion was that the use of higher-tech automatically afforded a higher quality of life for the common man but instead it only took away his ability, his right, to shelter himself and handed it to corporations and their factories.
By turning the home owner into a dependent consumer architects had unwittingly led a whole generation into indentured servitude.
Based on industrial materials made with non-renewable resources the cost of homes can only increase without end as those resources are diminished.
The houses of our ancestors cost little more than their own labor.
Homelessness existed chiefly as a product of war, famine, and natural disaster.
Today homelessness is the direct product of an increasingly impractical housing industry which has destroyed vernacular architecture, made it impossible to shelter people at a realistic individual and environmental cost, and taken away the individual's right to shelter himself through his own skills and labor.
In response to the emerging realisation of these three great blunders a new movement in architecture began, one which is only now beginning to achieve some kind of critical mass."
Beyond Shelter - Australia is to the forefront of this new movement in architecture with innovate designs and using low cost materials and methods that are labour intensive.
Local Materials such as rocks, mud and renewable materials.
Many different methods see the use of local rocks, stones, gravel, sand etc. plus plantation pine, salvaged timber and recycled building materials. When one considers the concept of low cost materials freely available and low cost labour much can be done.
We don't mean that we expect to see junk dwellings one sees in "shany towns" but a rethink on modern technology. Originally clay bricks were made by hand but now they are made in a factory and the finished product is required to be installed by a qualified tradesperson. Do we need to use these expensice bricks?
The Habitat 21 is an architectural and engineering supported turn-key project from open field to fully completed homes, roads, paths, support infrastructure and landscaping.
To use innovative ideas, low cost materials and high labour content to provide affordable homes doesn't mean that kerbside view is unacceptable. To build modular homes makes sense also because when the family grows why not make the house grow too?
Housing First
Whether one is concerned with welfare reform, education, health care or employment programs, any serious social policy aimed at addressing poverty in this country must encompass a housing strategy. In a fundamental sense, housing is central to the way people live, how they feel about themselves, and their ability to develop self-esteem, be good parents, and acquire the skills and stability necessary for work.
With thousands of families on Government waiting list and thousands more not even considering the possibility of homeownership, affordable housing by Beyond Shelter - Australia couldn't come at a better time.
It is no use thinking about getting people off welfare and into work if they haven't a house to live in.
On the job training
Another interesting point for your consideration is that Beyond Shelter - Australia whilst using volunteer workers to build homes also trains its Beneficiaries to also obtain work skills helping them to move from "Welfare to Work". We use the simple technology of step by step training. Rather than waiting years to train a plumber we spend a few hours teaching a Programme-Participant how to change a tap washer. With a small kit [few washers, a few spare taps, an allen key and some spanners] we have a "Tap Doctor"
A bit more training and the Tap Doctor can fix leaking toilets. Simple and very useful. Apply this to the hundreds of simple jobs and soon you have an effective work force instead of full-time welfare dependants.
About Land
Beyond Shelter
Australiahas given a lot of thought about land. We live in a very large country but we only have a small population. For every square kilometre we average just 2 persons.
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In Australia we all try to live in the cities but even then our population density is lower with Sydney, with the most at 2550/km.
Unfortunately the higher the density the higher the land cost and as land increase in price people are forced to build high rise building to make the best use of the land. These building cost more and eventually only the rich can afford to live in certain areas close to town.
The poorer you are means that your place of residence further away from everything. This means higher transport costs and in some cases no job opportunities.
Also we Australians were brought up on the concept of living on a quarter acre block [about 1000 square metres]. This meant that services such as water, gas, telephones. Electricity and sewerage had to travel long distances to cover just a few dwellings.
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We think a lot about how to save money
Beyond Shelter
Australiapolicy is to make better use of land and resources. We do not advocate high rise because this increase costs in other areas but certainly bring houses closer together make sense.
Australians also have the belief that to own your own house you also need to own the land on which it is built.However over the years other methods of land use have emerged. These include leasehold, land trusts, strata title etc.
Beyond Shelter
Australiahas investigated these in detail and found solutions to a variety of housing problems involving a shortage of land
The best of these is LOCHOS [Low Cost Housing Scheme] and BSALT [Beyond Shelter - Australia LAND TRUST] lease agreement
Do you need some more information? Please contact Beyond Shelter - Australia here Habitat 21 Housing Project
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