Fixing Houses for Better Health is a targeted program of small-scale critical repairs and maintenance carried out in Indigenous houses in remote communities with a view to improve the living environment and therefore health of household members by improving basic functionality and safety. It is a program which has been funded by FaHCSIA since 1999 with the objective of improving the health of Indigenous Australians and the communities in which they live.
Fixing Houses for Better Health projects use a method of housing assessment and maintenance known as Housing for Health, which is licensed by Healthabitat Pty Ltd, and a network of sub-contracted project managers across Australia. Their approach is based on the 9 Healthy Living Practices as identified in the National Indigenous Housing Guide.
The core of the Fixing Houses for Better Health project is to survey and fix critical 'health hardware' items such as hot water systems, taps, toilets, drains, showers and electrical fittings in houses in rural and remote Indigenous communities. Local community teams fix health hardware as they survey houses. Urgent items that cannot be fixed immediately are fixed within a day or two by tradespeople and less urgent items are repaired over the next two to three months. A second survey is conducted six months later to measure the improvement in functionality of health hardware as a result of this work.
In the current round of Fixing Houses for Better Health (2009-2011), the project is working with the following communities:
- Elliott (NT)
- Katherine (NT)
- Ardyaloon (WA)
- Beagle Bay (WA)
- Mer Island (Qld)
- Dunjiba (SA)
- Flinders (SA)
- Wilcannia (NSW)
- Bourke (NSW)
- Engonnia (NSW)