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Sustaining a resilient housing system in southeast Queensland
Author/s
Sara Alidoust, Stephanie Wyeth, Tim Reddel, Gillian Cornish, Lutfun Nahar Lata, Laurel Johnson, Maram Shaweesh
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic added an additional layer of pressure onto an already stressed housing system in Southeast Queensland (SEQ).
Housing is a complex system and we argue that thinking about the separate components of housing in isolation, we are unable to consider the resiliency of housing as a whole system. The purpose of this paper is to inform and help structure resilient housing policy and strategy development in SEQ.
Using qualitative methodologies, data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 18 participants associated with the housing sector in SEQ, during the pandemic period. Participants were invited from five groups: community, government, consultants, developers and peak housing bodies.
We found that rather than relying on reactive mechanisms, there needs to be a commitment from governments to work with other sectors to strategically plan for proactive and resilient-led approaches and policies to prepare for shocks. There is an opportunity at local, state and federal level governments to learn from this study to better understand what makes a housing system more resilient.