A pressing question for Australia comes from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): “if housing was considered a human right, would it fix our housing crisis?”
One disturbing possible answer may dismay not just Australia but many other countries: “Why bother? Australia’s already done that, and it didn’t work out first time round.”
In 1944, the Australia’s Commonwealth Housing Commission published A Plan For Housing the People. Its timing was roughly coincident with The United Nation’s earliest declaration of human rights worldwide.
“We consider that a dwelling of good standard and equipment is not only the need but the right of every citizen” stated the published plan. In that regard, Australia can be considered as a pioneer in the evolution of universal human rights in general — and in particular, that of adequate housing.
The following article discusses aspirations of 1944’s A Plan For Housing the People, as well as the path that Australia has actually followed since its inspirational self-awareness some 80-odd years ago. What happened? Among other things, the Australian Dream intervened to focus more and more on the supposed benefits for all that is supposedly afforded by home ownership. Read some of that story at ABC News: If housing was considered a human right, would it fix our housing crisis?
The more pertinent question to ask as a crisis of housing cost deepens around the globe: how can Australia, having been offered housing as a human right eight decades ago, avoid spiralling even further down the expensive, exclusive ownership drain that is helping create an ever-deepening housing crisis for those less wealthy?
As for other countries that have more recently embraced the United Nations’ Right to Adequate Housing: how can they provide adequate housing, not just for wealthier homeowners, and avoid the mess that has befallen Australia?
