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Recrafting the Australian Dream: Alternative Models for Affordable Housing

Australia’s housing system is on a knife’s edge, grappling with a series of complex economic, social, and environmental challenges amid a ‘cost-of-living’ crisis. This has resulted in increased demand for social housing across Australia, with public housing waitlists stretching to a national average of 637 days. Housing precarity and access to appropriate shelter (which is a human necessity) are now a real risk for many in our community. 

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics September 2024 report, the average house price in Australia is $985,900. This figure is out of reach for many young homemakers, low-income families, and vulnerable groups—including the elderly, First Nations communities, and individuals escaping abuse. Increasingly, there is recognition that a shift away from the Great Australian Dream of detached, free-standing housing is required to address these challenges. 

In recent times, successive governments have made concerted efforts to expand their housing stock and improve housing outcomes with large investments through Queensland’s Housing Big Build, the Housing Investment Fund, and the Housing Australia Future Fund. The reality we face, however, is that even with this renewed focus, reversing decades of underinvestment in the sector remains difficult and slow.  

This context and collection of issues surrounding social housing present a challenge we at COX have embraced and endeavoured to contribute to as an architectural practice. It has in fact been a foundational body of work that has contributed to our underlying ethos of ‘do more with less.’  

Forbes Street Houses, Woolloomooloo | Max Dupain Photography 

COX began developing models of public housing in the 1970s with seminal projects like Forbes Street Housing in Woolloomooloo, marking a dramatic shift away from isolated tower forms to urban infill development. Ironically, this has come somewhat full circle with several of our current projects evolving the tower form typology, addressing historical failings with this model, and pairing it with greater support and wrap-around services. 

 

 

 

This body of work over decades, has allowed the practice to establish a deep and evolving knowledge base that is informed by research and is continually tested, challenged, and iterated to create communities and housing that its residents love and cherish. This knowledge base can be distilled and understood within three key streams of focus that continue to define and shape our approach to social housing. 

The Vertical Village 

Land scarcity and urbanisation have driven the need to ‘re-think’ the tower form in social housing. This shift also requires addressing the failings of an approach widely adopted in many cities during the 1960s. Placing high densities of people in a social housing context requires detailed consideration of the resident cohort’s composition. It also calls for a design response that manages density by creating smaller neighbourhoods within the overall tower form. 

The creation of casual spaces for incidental resident interaction is an important device to build social cohesion and connection between neighbours. Open-air corridor spaces, informal seating areas, and communal amenity spaces have all been used to great success on various COX housing projects. These elements contribute to a village-like environment that addresses the historic issues of isolation and restriction within towers. 

Constance Street Public Housing seating areas | Christopher Frederick Jones Photography 

Courtyard spaces are central to the planning of many of our social housing schemes, serving as key spatial and organisational elements. This is seen in our Labrador Social Housing project, where courtyards play a critical role in fostering a sense of community and a village-like environment. These spaces create a valuable oasis of calm, shielding residents from busy road corridors while offering secure communal gathering areas. They are designed with good passive surveillance and multiple paths of egress for safety.  

 

78 Brisbane Rd Labrador Social Housing courtyard | Christopher Frederick Jones Photography

The Living Building 

Healthy buildings help to make healthy people and the research on this subject is clear. Successful social housing environments are grounded in passive sustainability strategies that shape the form and arrangement of dwellings. These strategies include natural ventilation to cool homes, orientation to maximise natural light and warmth, integrated shading to prevent overheating, and thoughtfully designed outlooks to enhance psychological comfort. We consider these to be the non-negotiables that underpin our social housing work. 

The integration of landscape in a high-density urbanised context is an important way to connect residents with nature. Increased distance and detachment from the natural world can negatively impact mental health and wellbeing. Research consistently shows that buildings inspired by nature help reduce stress and improve memory and cognition. This is particularly important for those in a social housing setting who have experienced past trauma. 

Constance Street Public Housing atrium | Christopher Frederick Jones Photography 

The Good Neighbour 

Good quality social housing integrates with its neighbourhood context and contributes to the public realm. It activates our streets and plays a vital role in creating a safe and accessible community. This is achieved by acknowledging the existing context and urban patterns and building upon them, rather than replacing them (as was often the case in the past). The goal is to create legible, cohesive spaces that optimise the ‘good stuff’ already occurring in these streetscapes.  

It respects the privacy and quality of neighbouring homes and developments while complementing the character and materiality of the precinct. Ultimately, it also seeks to make a positive contribution to the life of the cities and towns it occupies. 

This is achieved through the delivery of quality, dignified social housing that anyone in the community would be happy to live in and call home. This is the key to the de-stigmatisation of public housing and to realising the promise that good design democratises. 

Our experience in hybrid timber buildings and the development of regenerative design strategies can help drive net-zero outcomes for the community, creating highly sustainable, liveable, and healthy social housing developments in accord with the Paris Agreement.  

Research project in collaboration with University of Queensland exploring regenerative design principles.

Our dedicated research team continues to evolve our knowledge base to ensure we are best placed to deliver on Trauma Informed Design principles to create homes where people feel safe and secure.  

Grounded in decades of experience and guided by a vision for the future, COX remains committed to designing social housing that creates lasting social change within Australia’s economic and regulatory frameworks. 

 

Constance Street Public Housing

Fortitude Valley, Queensland