Climate resilience site assessment for social housing

As part of the Australia Pacific Climate Partnership (APCP), the Climate Partnership Support Unit (SU) is providing technical advice on a range of issues affecting the development of Low Cost Housing in Fiji.  The vulnerability of housing and other assets to disasters, especially cyclones, is one of the primary challenges.

By its intrinsic definition, low-cost housing is for a vulnerable sector of the community which does not have the resources or capacity to manage the extreme risks associated with climate variability and other extreme events. The SU is working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Social Housing Project to identify entry points for integrating climate and disaster risks into the planning, design and construction of low cost housing for the future.

Alexander and Lloyd have been tasked to provide expert input to the assessment and design criteria for six planned urban and peri-urban subdivisions that are part of the IFC program. The first phase of the review employed a specific risk-based lens toward geohazards and climate related hazards, looking at specific and broad scale design implications to the subdivisions, being developed for housing for low & middle income households. A second phase of the review will involve a more detailed review of design creiteris of the proposed buildings

The assessment, which included inspections of each site, and review of available documentation, identified very significant risks associated with developing lots for low cost housing, when factoring in that changes to the future climate will see an increase in all risks imposed on subdivision design and housing design. The most important mitigation that the developer can make is to utilise sound engineering principles to the location, layout, construction and development of low cost housing lots, and to eliminate, or minimise, the transfer of risk to the dowstream users and other stakeholders of the low-cost housing. For the six sites, the most significant mitigation required the development of appropriate hydraulic modelling for flood control and drainage design, which was not apparent, and was recommended for urgent rectification.