Public housing for aborigines

Looking at this photo of an aboriginal kitchen from The Australian one might ask where’s the Spray & Wipe? Apart from the dirt, the dog and the food scraps lying around it is not a bad looking kitchen. There is a modern stove and what looks like a freezer. The kitchen itself is not faulty but the care taken of it is appalling. Building new public housing for this house's occupants might not help to improve their living standard - at least in the longer-term - as much as one might think.

The story with the photo sees the housing as simply sub-standard. The house is 40 years old and, the story claims, should be demolished. On this basis my own home should be demolished since it was built in 1923. Its not right. A basic issue is that those living in the public housing illustrated either don’t know how to look after their home or don't have incentives to do so. It may be an instance of ‘traditional tribal societies colliding with the 21st century’ but the lack of care stands out. This means that measures to help aborigines by providing public housing are both expensive and ineffective.

The article argues that health problems and sexual abuse of children are related to overcrowding - I will post on that separately although one can see from the photo that health concerns here will not only be related to crowding. The picture suggests that aborigines need basic education on issues of house care and maintenance - buying expensive capital assets and throwing dollars at their occupants won't in itself resolve aboriginal problems.