Crisis in community housing needs fresh approach

Thousands of people across Australia are in desperate need of social and affordable housing. We can’t give it to them without building more homes quickly.

Fleetwood and The Australian have partnered to look at innovative solutions to Australia’s housing crisis.

Australia is in a housing crisis, building only a fraction of the homes we need each year. And it is especially affecting those who can least afford housing.

For CEO of Anglicare North Coast Mark McNamara, this isn’t just a statistic – it’s the reality he tackles daily, as he works to secure community housing for those who need it most.

“Australia-wide, there is a shortage of community housing,” he said. “What generally happens is rents go up, and disproportionately it affects categories like low-income earners.”

Modular homes being constructed.

Mr McNamara explained several barriers to getting more community housing built quickly, especially in regions like his. One is the sheer amount of time it can take for a house to be built, but another is the critical labour shortage that has hit regions hard.

He said a solution for this is to approach housing in a different way, through building modular homes offsite, and then transporting them to their final location.

“What we really like about the prefabrication model is that it dramatically reduces the time (for a home to be finished). It takes about seven months as opposed to about two years for a traditional build,” he said.

Anglicare North Coast are working on three new developments using modular housing. Mr McNamara said he has been impressed with the process.

“It reduces the risk for things like the builder going insolvent or the risks of materials going up (in price) in that period of time,” he said.

“If you have a quality provider, quality control is better,” he added, explaining that because of a labour shortage, it is very difficult to get the number of builders needed in a regional town to work on a community housing development.

“For our development in South Grafton, that would need a master builder and probably 12-15 permanent people on site (for a traditional build). That doesn’t exist in Grafton. To get that job done you would need a builder to relocate and house their staff. That’s why the prefabrication model is beneficial.”

TACKLING A HISTORIC CRISIS

For these key reasons, Australia’s largest social and affordable housing provider Community Housing Limited (CHL) is also investing in modular homes. 

CHL Chief development officer Wayne Gibbings.

Chief development officer Wayne Gibbings said while the housing situation is critical, Australia has precedence for such a shortage, and we need to think broadly about solutions now, as we did then.

“It’s no different to what occurred after the end of the second world war. The National Housing Commission was set up then (to address this). So it's not new. We just need to respond more than we currently are,” Mr Gibbings said.

CHL manages 12,000 social and affordable tenancies in Australia, but Mr Gibbings said it is crucial we build more, and quickly.

“Our view is that everybody needs a sustainable, safe, and affordable home. It’s very hard to prosper in life if you don’t have secure housing.”

He explained that as well as the benefits of a faster build, and overcoming the labour shortage, modular homes are also attractive in regions where weather conditions can make building traditional homes more difficult, giving the example of Cairns, where CHL has opted for modular homes to overcome the challenges of building through the wet season.

“I think there’s certainly a very strong role (for modular homes) in regional and remote areas of Australia,” he said, adding “it’s a really good product.”

Fleetwood modular homes are largely completed offsite and moved to their final destination.

HOW MODULAR HAS CHANGED

The technology behind modular housing has advanced considerably in recent years.

Fleetwood CEO Bruce Nicholson said he has seen huge progress over his years in the industry.

“We had a contract in Queensland signed in July for 60 homes,” he said. “The first 12 of those left our factory at the end of October. So within a very short period of time we had finished, completed homes ready to go on site.”

Mr Nicholson said that more than speed, the quality of modular housing is far superior to decades past, meaning it will suit a much wider range of tenants.

“There’s still a misconception about the quality and durability of modular in 2024. I think people have still got a perception that it is a demountable from 25 years ago. So I don’t think the industry or market has cottoned on that modular today is just as good quality, if not better than traditional builds. It meets all of the same building codes (as traditional housing), and it has a building life of 50 years plus.”

Fleetwood is Australia’s largest modular home provider, employing 650 people, with the capacity to build around 3000 homes each year.

Mr Nicholson said this capacity is especially important as we face a community housing crisis. He said each year we’re falling further and further behind national housing targets that have been set by the federal government - and modular homes can go some way to addressing this shortfall.

Modular home standards have improved dramatically in recent years.

“We don’t have a rainy day in our factory,” he said, explaining that tradespeople can work to predictable timeframes in getting the homes ready. 

When they are 90 per cent built, they are transported to the site, where workers spend only 3 or 4 days “complexing” the modules together.

He said this speed and quality means that modular homes have a big part to play in addressing national community housing needs.

“Where modular really does come into its own is in regional and rural areas, where we can deliver very efficiently and effectively in those places,” Mr Nicholson said.

Mr Nicholson said incorporating modular into our overall community housing plans gives more of us a chance to have secure long-term housing.

“We build to the gold standard,” he said. “We believe that we can supplement the supply by having additional capacity in the marketplace. We want to do the right thing by the community.”

Fleetwood’s modular homes can be built quickly, at a lower cost, and with less labour than a traditional home. They’re a key part of the solution to our community housing crisis.

Find out more at fleetwood.com.au