Countries all over the world face huge deficits in affordable housing today. But pursuing a circular economy, or the practice of making a good’s life cycle less resource-intensive, can pave the way for less expensive and longer-lasting houses, Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo found in an episode of the Mongabay Explores podcast published last December.
In the episode, DiGirolamo talks to Louise Dorignon, a postdoctoral research fellow and housing circularity expert at RMIT University in Melbourne, about one of the world’s most unaffordable housing markets: Australia.
In 2023, Dorignon, along with her colleagues, published a four-pronged approach to address Australia’s housing problem in an increasingly warming world.
“Our goal was to find out how implementing a circular economy approach can lead to a more sustainable housing system” that is “comfortable, safe, healthy and also has minimal environmental impacts,” Dorignon tells DiGirolamo.
She says the first step in their approach is to incorporate sustainability into property valuation. She notes that in Europe, countries require the disclosure of environmental performance of energy rating of a house, which a person looking to rent or buy will “immediately see.”
DiGirolamo says having the sustainability metrics can incentivize rental landlords to incorporate sustainable practices, since such properties will be valued higher.
The second step toward affordable housing in Australia, Dorignon says, is to have regulations with clear standards and targets for energy efficiency and sustainability. There also need to be better monitoring and accountability systems to keep track of the country’s housing stocks and how they’re performing, she adds.
The third step, Dorignon says, is to invest more in sustainable practices, while the fourth step is to build the capacity, skills and knowledge to reform the building and construction industry.
Dorignon cites the example of Germany’s passive house model, which she describes as “all about the house consuming very low energy for heating and cooling, and so requiring very little carbon emissions to heat or cool.”
She also mentions Japan’s efficient construction methods as a product of intensive research and development.
DiGirolamo says these changes will require culture shifts. For example, properties in Australia are treated like a speculative investment, where some people buy lots of properties with the aim of renting them out for a profit.
Dorignon adds that most people can’t afford to buy a house, and they get stuck for years spending a significant portion of their income on rent.
Families are also pushed into “less connected areas and therefore have reduced access to, essential services and things that are needed for their quality of life,” Dorignon says.
Among the models Dorignon suggests is cooperative housing, where communities plan and manage housing.
To learn more, listen to the episode “Researchers propose a ‘circular economy’ solution to housing affordability against climate change.”
Banner image of a housing estate in Australia by Calistemon via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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