Australia’s housing crisis is pushing governments, utilities, councils and industry to prioritise speed, supply and affordability. But if we keep delivering housing via conventional planning and water servicing pathways, cities and towns risk locking in higher long-term costs, lower climate resilience and poorer liveability. The gap between policy ambition and what is delivered on the ground is growing, with stormwater, drainage, wastewater interfaces, alternative water sources and public realm outcomes often addressed too late or in isolation.
This challenge affects all jurisdictions. Planning systems, utility arrangements and approval pathways differ across states and territories, but the same pressures are apparent: more redevelopment in established suburbs, denser mixed-use precincts around centres and transport corridors, expansion at the urban fringe, and growth in regional cities and towns.
At the same time, climate pressures are intensifying. Heat, flooding, water scarcity, declining urban tree canopy and infrastructure capacity constraints increasingly affect housing performance, household costs and neighbourhood amenity.
Water sensitivity is NOT an environmental add-on. It is a core part of delivering affordable, resilient and fit-for-purpose housing.
A water sensitive housing response considers how urban form, servicing, landscape, public space and building systems work together to manage runoff, support cooling, protect receiving waters, improve resource efficiency and create healthier places to live.
We recently published a discussion paper, outlining a national approach that identifies priority actions for building housing that is not only fast and affordable, but resilient, climate-ready and better aligned with natural systems.
We have also proposed a project that can move this project from principle to practice:
- Define what water sensitive housing looks like in each context, especially for activity centres where expected performance is still unclear.
- Develop value propositions that compare business-as-usual approaches with water sensitive alternatives using lifecycle costs and multiple benefits, rather than focusing only on upfront capital costs.
- Identify the approval, governance, funding, and operation and maintenance arrangements needed to make better solutions both approvable and durable.
- Convert these findings into an influencing strategy built around a small number of credible messages and compelling facts for decision makers in housing, planning and infrastructure.
Proposed deliverables from this project:
- clear principles for integrating housing and water system planning
- a practical decision-support process that can be used consistently across jurisdictions
- process tested in real-world housing contexts to demonstrate benefits and feasibility
- a national coalition of partners to support implementation, knowledge sharing and refinement.
The CRCWSC has produced research, guidelines and
tools related to the following topics:
Integrated Urban Flood
Management
Climate change
mitigation
Community
engagement
Economics and
business case