SA Aboriginal communities set to benefit from improved housing

Newswise — Aboriginal community housing in South Australia’s remote APY Lands will be retrofitted in an innovative pilot project to improve energy efficiency, living conditions and health in the harsh and variable desert climate.

Starting this month, the University of South Australia (UniSA) will collaborate with the SA Department for Energy and Mining, the SA Housing Authority and industry partners on the project.

Led by UniSA with support from RACE for 2030 CRC, the partners will work with the APY community in Indulkana to modify a small group of houses, providing a framework for energy efficient upgrades across the remainder of the APY Lands, as well as other remote areas across Australia.

Summer temperatures in the APY Lands typically exceed 40 degrees and can reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius in the height of summer. In winter, it can drop below freezing overnight. Housing quality is variable, with degraded insulation and gaps in doors and windows making homes very cold in winter.

UniSA researcher and project leader Associate Professor Ke Xing says that while Aboriginal people have lived on harsh desert lands for tens of thousands of years, temperature extremes and associated severe thermal stresses have become more pronounced.

“With broader climate extremes and overall hotter summers predicted for the future, how people are living and maintaining healthy communities in these remote regions is of growing concern,” Assoc Prof Xing says.

“Retrofitting their homes to make them more energy efficient and comfortable is the obvious solution, but there are many challenges associated with this.

“Standard retrofit solutions are not suitable for the APY Lands due to environmental issues, and materials need to be sourced easily due to the distance from major cities.”

Labour costs in remote regions can be double that of metro areas, and because any repairs need to be carried out by local workers, affordable retrofit solutions are required.

The dry, dusty conditions and mineralised water can also interfere with some electronic and mechanical systems, as well as compacting insulation.

A final report is due in October 2025.