ANU researchers have been talking with children about housing. Their stories should break Australia’s heart.

Over the past two years, we talked to 132 children in poverty as part of the More for Children project. Led by the Children’s Policy Centre at The Australian National University (ANU) – the project aims to understand, measure and ultimately reduce child poverty. 

We used a child-centred methodology that allowed young participants to tell their stories on their own terms.  

Our research found that while many children technically have a house – they don’t have what they call a ‘home’. You can read a policy brief that outlines the findings here. 

What makes a house a home?

According to the children we spoke to, a home protects them from cold, heat and mould. They described homes as safe, comfortable, and clean, with indoor and outdoor spaces, and a place where you can learn, socialise and relax. 

But housing often doesn’t meet this definition. Many of the children lived in emergency housing, but others were in low-cost market housing.  

One 12-year-old, who nicknamed themselves ‘Atomic Bomb’, * said “I didn’t have enough clothes to keep me warm, and there was no heating in the house. So I was kinda freezing.” 

‘A’, aged 15, said “[In emergency housing] we used to have 20-30 plus bugs all over the toilet seat.” 

‘Warren’, aged 11, said “[In emergency housing] we only had a stove that didn’t work so we couldn’t really cook anything. We only had a microwave, so I would just usually just have a cup of noodles. We were there for four months. Our beds were like really uncomfortable, so it was hard to sleep. I didn’t really sleep much, and I was too tired to even go to school and catch the bus.” 

‘Suii’, aged 12, said “[My brother] sleeps on the couch, and I sleep on the ground on a mattress. She [younger sister] sleeps next to me.” 

Children also described emergency housing as lonely. Rules against visitors made it hard to make friends, pets were banned, and being forced to move repeatedly made all this worse.  

When talking about ‘home’, children talked a lot about outdoor spaces. Outdoor play is essential to a happy childhood, yet cheap and emergency housing rarely provides a safe place for it. 

‘Tracy’, aged six, said “The backyard [is my favourite place in the house] ‘cause sometimes I go on the clothesline when I’m allowed to and that’s fun, like a space outside.” 

‘Warren’, 11, said, “I think [a backyard] is very important ‘cause if you get really bored inside at least you can go outside and get some fresh air.” 

The path to less poverty

Housing Australia’s children must be taken seriously. Our findings show that this means providing it at a high quality, not just in high quantities. 

Families need must also be empowered to seek help. Parents and children told us that they hid their need for support, for fear that their housing insecurity would be misunderstood as neglect. 

Some children in the research had been homeless, and others thought it could happen to them in the near future. 

Children need housing. But that housing must be a home. To them, that means a safe, comfortable place they can play, learn, bathe and socialise. 

The findings showed that quality regulations for emergency and cheap market housing will directly affect children’s lives.  

More child-inclusive outdoor spaces would do the same. Policies to ensure new developments provide these spaces would help to reduce the burden of poverty on children. 

One in six Australian children younger than 15 lives in income poverty. By providing homes, not just houses, Australia has a chance to change the daily lives of its children and take a massive step towards a future with less poverty. 

The More for Children project is supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation.