A gender lens on housing design
While it seems obvious that women experience homelessness differently from men, it is rare that a gendered lens is applied to the design and delivery of housing and services in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
This also applies to the design of social housing.
Our Public Housing Design Guidelines are currently completely silent when it comes to gender, leaving the considerations around women’s needs and the needs of gender-diverse whānau to individual housing providers and their design partners - with predictably mixed results.
Why are women’s needs different?
Women are more likely to be pregnant or have kids with them and may need more rooms, facilities that cater to family life, and longer stays so that their kids can stay at kindy and school.
Women are more likely to have experienced sexual and family violence and therefore need enhanced security measures and 24/7 access to women-only spaces for their physical and psychological safety.
Women are more likely to experience a gender pay gap and have even more severe affordability issues. Research by Dr. Brodie Fraser from He Kāinga Oranga showed that women are negatively impacted by the gender pay gap even when experiencing homelessness meaning that women are likely to have even more severe affordability issues and less ability to pay expensive utility bills in poor-quality housing.
For many wāhine Māori and Pasifika women, cultural centeredness and location to whānau or aiga are critical.
Layer over the needs of our older and disabled women and there is a huge need for accessible housing that is located close to amenities and affordable healthcare.
As Jill Hawkey, Coalition member and Executive Director of the Christchurch Methodist Mission says:
“Feeling safe is crucial for the older women that we work with. A sense of community, the opportunity to build relationships with neighbours while still having their own private space. The ability to access support and services when needed, and the security of knowing that they can stay there for as long as they need it are all part of feeling safe. Great functional design is a really important part of all of the above.”
What can good design achieve for women?
From the “pure” design perspective, good quality architecture is a problem-solving response to a specific brief and user needs. Well-designed buildings form a physical backdrop to quality user experiences and ultimately have a long-term influence on user experience if they are executed well.
For women experiencing homelessness, well-designed housing can provide the type of safe and comfortable living environment that underpins transformational change. For example, by incorporating features such as adequate space, privacy, and accessibility, good design can contribute to the physical and mental well-being of women and provide a solid platform from which to consider their next steps and the potential to transition to a permanent home.
Furthermore, good design can contribute to the long-term sustainability and affordability of social housing. For example, energy-efficient buildings with sustainable materials and technologies can reduce utility costs, making housing more affordable for residents - especially important for women.
Finally, designing for women can have a positive influence on the broader urban context. For example, considering the needs of older women experiencing homelessness who aspire to age in place, and who may need to be close to healthcare and other public services, can provide a valuable lens for policymakers making decisions about the accessibility of services to housing developments. For women with children, access to childcare provides a similar lens and for those fleeing violence, safety and risk to life is an important lens.
What’s more, by strengthening the ability of the system to respond to women’s specific housing needs through better design, the housing system becomes more adaptable and responsive to everyone as it opens the door to the intersectionality of women’s needs. We cannot intervene for a woman based on her gender without paying attention to her needs as a parent, a disabled woman, a Māori woman, or an older woman.
Each woman walking through the door of a housing provider has a unique identity and good housing design should be sophisticated and flexible enough to cater to that.
What is the Coalition doing about it?
The Coalition is advocating alongside design partner, Solari Architects, and research partner, Allen+Clarke for a different approach to design guides for women’s housing.
We believe that a good design guide is an important tool for designers and policymakers, and an important opportunity to bring the voices of women to the fore through research and storytelling.
*There is an incredible bedrock of research and evidence out there that we aim to be a part of, including:
The Ageing Well Science Challenge’s research on the increasing rate of housing insecurity and homelessness amongst those over 65.
Dr. Brodie Fraser’s work evaluating a formerly homeless cohort of women who had been supported through Housing First.
Dr. Keri Lawson Te Aho’s work developing a Principles Framework for taking action on Māori homelessness in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
The recently completed research and insights paper by advocacy collective Making Space, which documents the experiences of rainbow whānau experiencing homelessness in inner-city Auckland and the supporting research by Dr. Brodie Fraser.
The lessons of Canadian organisation, Sistering, and their four-year participatory community-based research project, “Making Visible”, which uses a Gender Based Analysis Plus analytical process to evaluate the differing impact of housing policies and initiatives on women, including trans women and gender-diverse people.
The recently completed design guide from Melbourne’s Monash University, which had an explicit focus on older women: “The research team explored housing-related needs of older women currently living in housing allocated for women at risk of homelessness and sought to identify existing best practice building design examples.”
The work of Te Miringa Trust, “Mana Wāhine, Building an Understanding of Women’s Experiences of Homelessness in the Auckland City Centre”, jointly sponsored by Coalition member, Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson.
CRESA’s 2018 publication, “Designing Housing Decision Support Tools for Resilient Older People”, which helps architects and designers to support older people with ageing in place.
Zola Rose’s 2022 report on the housing needs and aspirations of ethnic women, Enabling Housing for Ethnic Women in Aotearoa-New Zealand - particularly her call for participatory design and design guidelines that are culturally diverse.
Codesigning a Culture-Centered Age-Friendly Community for Māori Kaumātua: Cultural Principles and Practices by Mary Louisa Simpson, John Oetzel, Yvonne Wilson, Sophie Nock, Kirsten Johnston, and Rangimahora Reddy.
