The National Indigenous Housing Guide is dead ... long live the Guide
HH has had many inquiries about when and if a new NIHG will be produced, and if so, in what form and by whom?
HH is testing the electronic waters by floating these 10 ideas/ thoughts for your comments.
1) The Guide is too important to see disappear.
2) Any dismantling of the Guide that may include removing the real housing data, that has been so critical in defining design and maintenance priorities, would be unacceptable.
3) The third edition of the Guide contained data from around 3,500 houses and now HH has data from almost 7,500 houses. This data can be used to further define housing issues and better solutions.
4) No state government or the federal government, has revealed any plans to produce a fourth edition of the Guide. The deadline for review of the 3rd Edition was 2009 so it would appear safe to say it is not a priority of the current batch of Australian governments. The 3rd edition of the Guide underpins the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing (with the National Building Code and Australian Standards) but has been increasingly ignored in house design and detail. Perhaps the slow death of the Guide matches the obsession with the number of houses built/upgraded and corresponding decline in housing standards and basic function.
5) HH is considering the production of a document based on the 3rd edition of the Guide, but with broader scope.
6) This new Guide would have additional house data and may have more graphical information showing problems and solutions that have been proven to work.
7) The new Guide would be available on line only to begin due to the cost of printing and distribution.
8) Sections of the new Guide would be able to be downloaded
9) HH would invite key housing, community and health practitioners with experience in Indigenous housing to attend a review meeting to help inform the new Guide. Invitations to representatives of all state governments, local governments and the federal government would be made only on the basis of the merit of their contribution to the new Guide.
10) HH would not seek the endorsement of the new Guide by any Australian government but would hope, over time, the merit of the Guide would ensure its use by all levels of government and housing and health service providers.