Imagine being placed in a vulnerable situation which resulted in your need of emergency housing services. You’re seeking temporary shelter that is secure, supportive—a base from which to take stock and make a positive next step.
Then imagine waiting nearly four months for this break, only to be placed in demoralising emergency housing which takes the form of a budget hotel, hostel or caravan park—removed from most comforts, transport networks, work opportunities, and support. A substandard type of accommodation which could trap you in a cycle of instability, making it difficult to secure more permanent housing or stable income sources.
Is there a better, more sustainable solution?
Enter the ‘Temporal Housing Design Guide’—part of the thesis of DesignInc Graduate Francesca Calderazzo and classmate Domenico Rossi—a manifesto for how to design emergency housing spaces which improve wellbeing for some of our most at-risk people.
‘Emergency housing is a topic that is really close to my heart. In this day and age, people in vulnerable situations should be able to access quality housing so that they can move on with their lives and receive the support and security they need to do so. It is crucial to prioritise the design of emergency housing to restore dignity, inspire change, and improve the human condition,’ said Francesca.
‘The primary goal of emergency housing is to create a safe and stable environment, helping people regain control over their lives. Through this research, and with alignment to the strong social impact agenda of my classmates’ research, we hope to solve some of the issues faced by everyday Australians and people in NSW generally.’
What is emergency housing?
Emergency housing is a critical service provided to individuals and families facing immediate housing crises. Housing serves as a short-term solution which provides temporary shelter and support and serves as a crucial first step in helping individuals and families transition towards more stable and sustainable housing solutions.
Typologies for emergency housing in NSW are sparse and lack diversity. Commonly, these housing situations are caravan parks, refuges, hostels and low-cost motels, and provide less-than-desirable living conditions. These living conditions are part of a perpetuating cycle, where users struggle to actively seek more stable accommodation options or a stable income source.
The aim of emergency housing is to foster safety and stability, as well as a sense of control over one’s life. In an environment where it can take up to two years for people to be able to imagine a different future after a disaster, the concept of designing spaces for the psychological benefit of its inhabitants must be prioritised in order to ‘restore dignity, inspire change, and improve the human condition.’ (Cary, 2017)
Current legislation in NSW
Waiting list data from the Department of Communities and Justice note that as of September 2024, 10,410 ‘priority’ applicants are on the waitlist for housing—which has a median wait time of 3.6 months. There is clearly not only a need for more emergency housing, but a need for more, better designed emergency housing.
In addition:
— 68,400 people in NSW were assisted by specialist homelessness services in 2022-2023 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2023)
— 300 people per day are in need of unavailable crisis housing due to undersupply (Batterham et al, 2023)
— 14/21 people reported experiencing barriers to accessing crisis accommodation (Batterham et al, 2023)
As it stands, laws lack specific guidelines which would address the unique needs of those requiring emergency housing and the agencies responsible for delivering it. The current state of emergency housing in NSW is driven through policy and legislation, most notably the Housing SEPP 2021, which aims to increase affordable housing supply in order to meet the needs of a diverse range of people.
An opportunity for the Housing SEPP 2021 is to clearly outline the important design elements which allow users of emergency housing to have better living conditions. A stronger legislative guide is needed—one that sets clear standards and drives meaningful change in emergency housing across NSW.
Frameworks for driving positive change
A way to combat this ambiguity is through a Design Guide which can attach itself to the Housing SEPP, leveraging the legislative nature of the document.
This Design Guide can allow for the individual user to be put first in the design stages, resulting in emergency housing which is safe, private, comfortable, accessible, sustainable, and ultimately, a platform for people accessing emergency housing to make a safe and appropriate transition into their next phase of life.
Enter the Temporal Housing Design Guide, formed through the investigation of ‘good’ design from the Reference Book in which scalable design principles are formatted. The guide has been curated to serve multiple audiences, including those with the resources to provide emergency housing, such as designers, builders, government bodies and developers, but also the dwellers themselves, in order to provide a tool to self-advocate.
Case Studies
Two case studies were created following the Temporal Housing Design Guide and the Good Housing Reference Book in order to evaluate and demonstrate the document’s effectiveness.
These two case studies included a granny flat in Fairfield (situated in an underutilised lot), and an apartment building in Crows Nest which was converted from a disused office building.
They both show exemplary housing, which is permanent, yet adaptable and designed for the temporal dweller. A series of design principles underpin both case studies:
The sketches and work mentioned throughout this article was completed by Francesca Calderazzo and Domenico Rossi during their Thesis’, the final project of their Masters of Architecture Degree. The thesis is titled ‘Emergency Housing for the Temporal Dweller’.
The work was completed in 2024 at the University of Technology Sydney.
References:
Addressing The Crisis in Crisis Accommodation. (2023). Retrieved from https://www.csi.edu.au/news/addressing-the-crisis-in-crisis-accommodation/ Batterham, D., Tually, S., Coram, V., McKinley, K., Kolar, V., McNelis, S., & Goodwin-Smith, I. (2023).
Architects’ Potential for Community Recovery | ACA – Association of Consulting Architects Australia. (2024). Retrieved from https://aca.org.au/architects-potential-for-community-recovery/
Cary, J. (2017). Design for Good: A New Era of Architecture for Everyone. Island Press Washington, DC.
Connecting Home – Homelessness Adults (16+). (2024). Retrieved from https://socialfutures.org.au/service/homelessness-adults/
Homelessness Innovation Fund. (2024). Retrieved from https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/documents/service-providers/grants/Service_Reform_and_Innovation_-_Grant_Program_Guidelines_2024-25.pdf
Local Government (General) Regulation 2021. (2024). Retrieved from https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2021-0460
Local Government Act 1993 No 30. (2024). Retrieved from https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-1993-030
Rental Assistance & Emergency Housing: Home In Place. (2024). Retrieved from https://homeinplace.org/housing-access/
Social Housing Waiting List Data. (2024). Retrieved from https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/about-us/families-and-communities-statistics/social-housing-waiting-list-data.html
What is emergency housing & why is it so important?. (2024). Retrieved from https://www.launchhousing.org.au/what-is-emergency-housing
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