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Older, Social Housing Tenant Households in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia Katrina Jayne Skellern University of Wollongong

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Older, Social Housing Tenant Households in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia Katrina Jayne Skellern University of Wollongong University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2013 Household sustainability dilemmas and challenges surrounding keeping warm in winter and hot water: older, social housing tenant households in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia Katrina Jayne Skellern University of Wollongong Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Faculty of Science School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Household sustainability dilemmas and challenges surrounding keeping warm in winter and hot water: older, social housing tenant households in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia Katrina Jayne Skellern This thesis is presented as part of the requirements for the award of the Master of Environmental Science – Research of the University of Wollongong December 2013 1 Abstract Household sustainability dilemmas and challenges surrounding hot water and keeping warm in winter: older, social housing tenant households in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia This thesis explores the household sustainability dilemmas and challenges surrounding hot water and winter warming of older, social housing tenant households in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Hot water and warming are generally identified as two of the key contributors of Australian household greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, Commonwealth and State energy efficiency policies target social and low income households through the provision of education programs and auditors to help households improve energy efficiency, save money and the environment by lowering emissions. Yet, research repeatedly suggests that education alone is inadequate to sustain behavioural change, and low income households are already the most resourceful in terms of household sustainability. Drawing on a cultural geography approach to household sustainability – which emphasises the connected household – the thesis aim is to better understand the challenges and dilemmas that older, social housing tenant households face in space and water heating. Questions that guide this thesis are: What are the sustainable household implications of common sense practices of keeping warm in winter and using hot water? What governance structures inhibit and enhance sustainable household practices? How does the materiality of buildings or water, person and space heating technologies work for and against household sustainability? To explore these questions the project recruited a total of twenty five households, across three different tenant housing complexes (brick units, brick villas and fibro cottages) and employed mixed-qualitative methods, discourse and content analysis. The results chapters identify the culture of frugality surrounding the way in which older social housing tenant households keep warm and use hot water. Attention turns to the household sustainability dilemmas and challenges that older social housing tenant households face to keep warm in winter, and minimise their use of hot water through the notion of zones of friction and traction. To conclude, the thesis outlines policy recommendations from the results. 2 Acknowledgements This project has been one of the most challenging and rewarding pieces of work I have ever produced. It has been an extremely steep learning curve as my first piece of qualitative research work, coming from a professional background of writing government and consultant’s reports to constructing academic arguments and discussion. It has also been a process of learning how to review literature, analyse text and transcripts and develop a geographers approach to research. This learning and re- learning has been supported by my supervisor, Professor Gordon Waitt. Gordon has gone above and beyond the ‘call of duty’ to meet personal deadlines for completion of this thesis and to ensure that we have a piece of work that can be applied to inform future policy as well as the building blocks for future research agendas. This is a collective effort and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for persevering and steering me along every part of this journey. I would like to recognise and thank my co-supervisor, Professor Paul Cooper, who although he handed over the majority of the reigns to Gordon, continued to guide me in my professional and academic capacity at all times. An engineer’s perspective and a geographer’s perspective are at opposite ends of the academic spectrum, but I hope this work has been able to bring these two perspectives together for the benefit of future research. I would also like to thank the Illawarra Forum and specifically, Ms Donna Brotherson, the Tenant Participation Reference Service (TPRS) Group Coordinator. Without Donna, this project would not have been possible. Donna introduced me to the participants of the study and remained connected to the project during the field work to ensure the research stages ran smoothly. Donna has a genuine passion for helping her clients and I hope this work contributes to her efforts. My family and friends deserve a special thanks. My husband, two young children and friends have been neglected in the lead up to Christmas and I thank my husband for taking the children on many excursions when I needed ‘quiet time’ and bringing me copious amounts of coffee in the evening to keep me writing and focused. Finally, I would like to thank the participants of the project. They took me into their homes and provided me with intimate insights of their everyday lives and without them, none of this work would have come to fruition. I hope that the findings and recommendations find some genuine solutions to assist in making daily life easier and that as exemplary energy savers, you are able to impart your knowledge onto others. 3 Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ 3 List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... 6 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... 7 List of Boxes ............................................................................................................................................ 8 Appendix ................................................................................................................................................. 8 List of Acronyms ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1 – Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Why housing sustainability challenges of older social housing tenant households? ........ 10 1.2 Why Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia? ........................................................................... 14 1.3 Research aims ............................................................................................................................. 16 1.4 Thesis Structure .......................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 2 – Sustainability Politics ....................................................................................................... 19 2.1 Beginnings and revision of the politics of sustainability .......................................................... 19 2.2 Sustainability, climate change and Australian politics ............................................................. 22 2.2.1 The shift to becoming energy efficient ............................................................................... 23 2.3 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 29 Chapter 3 – Literature Review & Conceptual Framework .................................................................. 31 3.1 Household Sustainability ........................................................................................................... 31 3.1.1 Consumer behaviour as rational, cost effective-decision making ..................................... 32 3.2 Rethinking Household Sustainability - Beyond Behaviour Change .......................................... 35 3.2.1 Bathing and showering practices ........................................................................................ 38 3.2.2 Laundry Practices ................................................................................................................ 39 3.2.3 Warming practices .............................................................................................................. 39 3.3 (Dis)connected households: thinking spatially about sustainable households ....................... 44 3.4 The Conceptual framework – The Connected Household ........................................................ 46 3.4.1 Zones of friction, zones of traction ..................................................................................... 52 3.5 Conclusion
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