Australia made shame a design choice in affordable housing

Australia is in a housing crisis and the impact is brutally uneven. Women over 55 are the fastest growing group experiencing homelessness. Single mothers and essential workers are being priced out of the communities they hold together. First Nations families face overcrowding that should be unacceptable. Young people are stuck in unsafe and insecure living situations because they have no alternatives. And for women and children leaving violence, a lack of housing is not a policy failure. It is a direct threat to life.

Recently, reports emerged of an apartment complex in Sydney’s Barangaroo requiring affordable housing tenants to enter the building from a separate entrance. The tenants at Watermans Residences have also being denied access to the building’s pool, spa, sauna and gym. 

The Barangaroo “poor door” uproar was never only about a separate entrance. It was a national wake up call. It showed how easily Australia accepts inequality and segregation inside developments labelled affordable. It showed how comfortable we have become with the idea that lower income tenants should be grateful for whatever they get. We have drawn a poverty line into the architecture of our cities. We have made shame a design choice.

The question is not whether the system is broken – we know that it is. It is whether we are prepared to build something better. What would it look like if housing in Australia was safe, fair and dignified for everyone? What if we stopped pretending that the Barangaroo model is an outlier and started demanding design and policy that protect privacy, uphold safety and treat every resident as an equal?

This is not beyond reach. Australia already knows what works. The Albanese Government has already created major policy tools. The Housing Australia Future Fund is a ten-billion-dollar investment to build social and affordable homes for those who need them most, including women and children escaping violence, First Nations families, older women and veterans. The Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program is expanding crisis and transitional housing across the country. These programs are built on a simple truth the Prime Minister clearly knows firsthand when he says; “I grew up in social housing. I know how important a roof over your head is and the opportunities it creates.”

But we don’t only need more housing. We need better housing. Housing that delivers safety, dignity and belonging.

And we already know the principles. The Barangaroo “poor door” only happened because tenure blind design was not enforced. Tenure blind design requires affordable and private units must be indistinguishable. It requires shared entrances. It requires equal materials and amenities. Every resident must have access to communal spaces. And every communal area must be open to everyone. Anything less is not affordable housing. It is sanctioned exclusion.

Planners know it. Developers know it. There is simply no obligation to comply. And when governments do not enforce standards, people with fewer resources bear the consequences.

Australia must stop pretending that these divides are accidental. They are choices. Dignity must be designed in from the beginning.

Policy and operations cannot undermine the intent of affordable housing. Mixed tenure developments must be normal practice. Privacy protections must be enforced. Housing providers must treat sensitive information with the highest standard of care. Allocation processes must be anonymous and fair. Property managers must be trained in trauma informed practice, privacy law and inclusive communication. None of this is complicated. It is simply not being prioritised.

This is also why specialist domestic and family violence services must be part of the design and governance of specialist housing. People leaving violence have complex and urgent safety needs. A building alone cannot meet them. Without specialist input, housing systems can expose survivors to new risks or recreate the dynamics they fled. Safe housing is not only a roof. It is the support and expertise wrapped around that roof.

Australia has the tools and policy levers. What is missing is the courage to demand dignity as a non-negotiable standard.

If we are going to call something affordable housing, it must also be liveable housing. It must protect privacy. It must promote safety. It must treat every resident with equal worth.

Barangaroo showed us how far we have drifted. It also showed us what must change. We can choose housing that respects people in its design and in its operations. We can choose to value the workers and women who prop up this country. Or we can keep building developments that quietly sort people into those who count and those who do not.

The choice is ours. And it is long overdue.