Teen parliament 2025: Jairaj has a big idea to make housing more affordable in SA

Year 11 student Jairaj Shekhawat has proposed an eco-friendly high-rise solution to SA’s housing crisis in his application for Teen parliament 2025. Apply here.

A family trip to India inspired year 11 student Jairaj Shekhawat to think about a solution to South Australia’s housing crisis.

The 15-year-old Glenunga International High School student says the way to provide more housing and additional affordable options is to build upwards.

He is among applicants for The Advertiser’s Teen parliament 2025, where entrants will be in the running to become one of 30 students representing the youth of SA at Parliament House on February 14.

Students from years 10, 11 and 12 will have until February 6 to submit their ideas relating to topics such as health, education, environment, transport and energy.

At least seven students will receive a $10,000 scholarship following the event.

“I look at the news and see housing shortages and in the (recent) holidays I went to India and they have a lot of these high rise apartment buildings,” Jairaj, from Glenunga, said.

“The population is really high so they need to fit a lot of people on the land.

“I thought why don’t we have apartments if we have a housing shortage?”

During his trips to India, Jairaj experiences high-rise apartment living first-hand as he stays with his relatives.

The teen’s proposal, which he says would be “perfect for first home buyers”, is to build modular, prefabricated apartments.

Year 11 student, Jairaj Shekhawat at Glenunga International High School, wants to solve the housing crisis with inspiration from his summer holiday in India. Picture: Matt Loxton

“Right now it’s looking quite difficult because prices are going up and lots of people want houses but not everyone can afford them,” Jairaj said.

“People can live in these to start with because they’re low cost.”

It would work well as a first step into homeownership and “as they get settled, they can buy their first home” later, he said.

The project would involve building walls and rooms in a factory and then assembling the pieces, rather than constructing houses brick by brick.

The 15-year-old Glenunga International High School student believes high-rise prefabricated apartments are the best way to provide more affordable housing options. Picture: Matt Loxton

“It would also cut down on emissions,” said the climate conscious student.

After school, Jairaj hopes to become an engineer or architect as in year 10, he got a taste for it with an architectural design class where he had to look at “using certain materials to reduce environmental impact”.

This experience informed his proposal for the future housing of SA by using recycled steel and rammed earth for the builds.

“We had to design a tiny home and use recycled materials instead of conventional brick,” Jairaj said.

The student, who said “loves debating and public speaking”, was interested in Teen parliament after seeing last year’s coverage.

“It was really cool and I’m curious to see what South Australia needs to do,” he said.