Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 8—Housing 319
Dwellings and their condition are categorised as
follows:
Permanent dwellings are buildings designed
for people to live in, with fixed walls, a roof
and doors.
Temporary dwellings are caravans, tin sheds
without internal dividing walls, humpies,
dongas, or other makeshift shelters.
Housing conditions refers to the condition of
permanent dwellings owned or managed by
an Indigenous housing organisation, as
assessed and categorised by community
housing officers, in terms of the costs of
repairs needed:
Minor or no repairs: repairs of less than
$20,000;
Major repairs: repairs of $20,000 to less
than $60,000; and
Replacement: repairs of $60,000 or more.
These ranges were higher in high cost areas.
Discrete Indigenous communities
Having a home that provides adequate shelter
and basic services is an expectation of most
Australians. The lack of such housing, or
difficulties with the supply of drinking water,
electricity and sewerage systems, has a major
impact on the quality of life of many Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander communities.
In 1999, 81% of the Indigenous population
living in discrete communities lived in remote
area communities (table 8.21), over half of them
(54%) in the Northern Territory. Together, the
88,700 people living in 1,187 discrete
Indigenous communities located in remote
areas represented close to 22% of all Indigenous
people in Australia. 3 Many of the communities
had small populations: of the communities
involved, 914 (77%) had fewer than 50 people,
while only 121 communities (10%), had 200 or
more people.
Housing tenure
A large proportion (70%) of Australians either
own or are purchasing their own home (see the
earlier section Home ownership and renting).
However, this pattern of tenure is not the norm
in remote Indigenous communities. Most of the
land is owned by the community as a whole,
rather than by an individual. The 1999 Survey
showed that 78% of all dwellings in these
communities were owned or managed by
community organisations, with only 1% of
dwellings privately owned.
Housing conditions
Research has found that two of the major
problems with living conditions of Indigenous
people are with the inadequate supply of
houses and with the poor quality of much of the
housing that is available, both being regarded as
unacceptable by general community standards. 4
It may be for these reasons that some
Indigenous people share their dwellings with
other people, increasing the level of crowding
in their household. However, many also prefer
to live, or at least sleep, near to their close kin. 4
As a result, dwellings occupied by Indigenous
people tend to have more people than those of
other Australians. In remote Indigenous
communities, the average occupancy ratio was
5.8 people per dwelling, compared to a national
average of about half that size (graph 8.4).
Not all residents of the communities surveyed
lived in permanent dwellings. In 1999, 13% of all
the dwellings in remote communities were
temporary dwellings such as caravans, tin sheds
or humpies, housing a population of over 7,000
people. Temporary dwellings were particularly
prevalent in small communities: 27% of the
population in remote small communities of
fewer than 50 people occupied temporary
dwellings.
The condition of permanent dwellings in terms
of the extent of repairs required provides
further insight into the quality of housing.
One-third of all community owned or managed
dwellings in these communities needed either
major repairs or replacement (table 8.22). The
need for this level of repair was more common
in dwellings located in communities of 50
people or more.
The reliability of the infrastructure provided is
also important. The provision and maintenance
of basic essential services such as water,
sewerage and power, are critical elements in the
development of a healthy living environment. 5
While the large majority of people living in
remote Indigenous communities have access to
these services, many communities experienced
problems in their operation.