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Abstract
Following World War II, Australia was confronted by a severe shortage of dwellings. In 1944, the Commonwealth Housing Commission Report estimated that Australia needed 750,000 new homes within a decade in order to overcome both the existing deficit and anticipated demand. Initial plans intended that half this requirement would be supplied as public housing for low-income families, but this tenure contributed only one sixth of completions by 1950. With significant barriers to obtaining housing through private treaty, large numbers of families were facing the long-term prospect of inadequate lodging. In this space of need, the construction of small temporary dwellings as a first step on the route to an affordable home proved one feasible strategy. This phenomenon has been neglected both theoretically and empirically. Through a case study of activity at Sydney’s suburban fringe, this paper explores how many home-seekers resorted to what historian Stuart Macintyre has described as ‘an alternative solution’, and acquired an un-serviced residential lot on which to construct an interim shelter. Drawing mainly on archival research, the occupational status of those families that relied on this housing route is surveyed and the financial arrangements which enabled the purchase of land and building materials examined. The paper concludes by suggesting that this method of obtaining a home not only helped ease the post-war housing crisis but enabled self-provisioning in housing to a group which historically had been dependent on others.
