WA public housing tenants struggle without adequate air conditioning or insulation
Savannah struggles to keep her home cool during the wet season. (ABC Kimberley: Rosanne Maloney)
In short:
Advocates say tenants in public and remote community housing are being forced to live in unreasonably hot houses.
A combination of old, poorly insulated homes and a lack of mandatory air conditioning is driving people into energy poverty.
What's next?
The state government is being asked to prioritise improving public and community housing living conditions.
Savannah would often drive around town at night during wet season to soothe her baby daughter to sleep with the car's air conditioning.
Stretching between October and April, wet season temperatures in Broome, 2,000 kilometres north of Perth, routinely average close to 40 degrees with little relief after dark.
As a single mother-of-three, it was one of the many adjustments Savannah made after moving into a public housing unit without cooling and proper insulation.
"We would spend most of our time outside under the hose in the garden … outside during the nights to keep cool," she said.
Her landlord — Western Australia's Department of Communities — said she would need to pay out of her own pocket to install air conditioning which the department would also need to approve.
Struggling to meet the $400 outlay, her family eventually helped her acquire a budget, inefficient air conditioner.
Savannah says the hot nights make her children restless. (ABC Kimberley: Rosanne Maloney)
Despite having bought a better unit and kept her blinds closed all day, she said she still struggled a decade later to stay cool in the house.
"It's like an oven in here," Savannah said.
She said she still moved her mattress into the lounge room — the only area with air conditioning — to sleep with her kids.
She said she knew of other families struggling in far worse conditions.
Savannah says the home gets uncomfortably hot inside. (ABC Kimberley: Rosanne Maloney)
"You become uncomfortable, your emotions are heightened ... that's not good for your mental health," she said.
"Having too much stress in your body causes sicknesses."
Air conditioning is not mandatory in public and community housing in northern WA and many houses haven't received significant renovation in decades.
Residents, often low-income and vulnerable, buy cheap, poorly installed units in houses where the cool air is poorly retained.
Savannah has had to stuff material in the wall gaps. (ABC Kimberley: Rosanne Maloney)
A 2022 report by the Kimberley Community Legal Centre found tenants endured extreme heat in poor-quality housing, couldn't afford air conditioning and suffered heat stress health impacts.
More recently it has become the subject of a class action into the living conditions of WA's public housing residents.
Biggest financial strain
Broome Circle financial counsellor Sen Amaratunga said air conditioning costs were one of the biggest financial stresses his clients had.
Mr Amaratunga says air conditioners are the biggest cost to his "vulnerable" clients. (ABC Kimberley: Rosanne Maloney)
Mr Amaratunga said most residents bought cheap, inefficient box air conditioners, lived in old housing with bad insulation and lacked energy efficiency education.
"Most of the people are going for boxed-up air conditioners because they can't afford split type," he said.
Mr Amaratunga said he had been inundated with requests for assistance with Horizon Power's Hardship Utility Grant Scheme.
The utility has received 193 applications from the Kimberley in the past 12 months.
Residents stuff blankets in wall cavities in Kimberley remote Aboriginal housing properties. (ABC Kimberley: Rosanne Maloney)
The program is a last resort for customers who face their power being disconnected due to financial hardship.
Applications spiked notably in February and May, which Mr Amaratunga attributed to wet season power bills.
Minimum standards to improve lives
Fulcrum Agency director Kieran Wong, whose agency works with remote Aboriginal communities to promote self-determination in housing and infrastructure, said mandatory air conditioning and retrofitting was required.
He said improving tenants' lives was in the government's best interests.
"I think you need to look at the larger system as well; the cost to the health system, the cost to the justice system, the cost to the education system," Mr Wong said.
Kieran Wong says suitable accommodation impacts other areas of tenant's lives. (Supplied: Kieran Wong)
Government policy states ceiling fans, air-conditioning apertures and ceiling and wall insulation are included in all new construction in the North West since 1990.
However, Mr Wong said many homes hadn't been upgraded in years.
Estimates by Energy Australia have suggested households could save up to 25 per cent on every energy bill if homes were properly insulated.
Residents are provided wall holes and often can't afford or access proper installation. (ABC Kimberley: Rosanne Maloney)
"People not being able to live comfortably in their homes in these environments is far greater, I would argue, than the cost of installing, maintaining and refurbishing homes," Mr Wong said.
He said the government should also plan to install renewable energy, particularly solar, on homes and offer financial support.
Government defends efforts
A Department of Communities spokesperson defended the quality of WA social housing, stating properties were built at a rating exceeding minimum standards.
They said that included "consideration" for making homes "thermally comfortable and sustainable in terms of costs for tenants to maintain".
The Department of Communities has defended its efforts regarding cooling in social housing. (ABC Kimberley: Rosanne Maloney)
They also said the department could fund some property modifications such as grab rails or upgrading ceiling insulation for tenants living with a proven medical condition or disability.
Savannah said she couldn't understand why air conditioning was not provided.
"Everyone knows how hot it get's here in the wet season," she said.