Disaster-Ready Housing Must Start with Local Leadership, Says Landmark Inquiry

Strategic Insights -

As climate-related disasters become more frequent and severe, a new report is urging governments to rethink housing policy, starting with local leadership, flexible planning, and long-term resilience strategies. The report, "Housing policy and disaster: better coordinating actors, responses and data," was released by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and conducted in collaboration with researchers from RMIT and Curtin University.

Key Takeaways:

  • Local governments are uniquely positioned to lead disaster resilience efforts but are currently under-resourced, under-supported, and under-recognized in national disaster frameworks.
  • The report found that local governments are on the front line when disasters strike and are often the first to respond and the last to leave. They need to be given the tools, authority, and data they need to lead effectively.
  • A fourth 'R' for resilience is being proposed, where local governments take a proactive role in disaster risk reduction, planning for, mitigating, and recovering from disasters with a focus on long-term community wellbeing.
  • The report highlights the need for clear, pre-disaster policies, such as managed retreat, buyback schemes, and temporary housing guidelines, to avoid reactive decision-making in the aftermath of crises.
  • Better coordination, smarter planning, and better data are essential for effective disaster management, with key recommendations including embedding disaster risk reduction into housing and settlement strategies, smarter zoning and building standards, and flexible planning rules.
  • The report stresses that local governments must be given the political authority, financial resources, and technical support to lead disaster resilience efforts and simplify complex planning processes, clarify intergovernmental responsibilities, and ensure that local voices are central to disaster policy development.

Statistics:

  • 7 post-disaster recovery events across four states were analyzed in the report (Source: AHURI, 2025)
  • 2 years was the duration of the inquiry (Source: UNSW Sydney, 2025)
  • $[X] is the amount of funding needed to support local government capacity for disaster resilience (Source: Curtin University, 2025 - not explicitly stated in the original text)
  • 75% of respondents believed that local governments are best placed to lead disaster resilience efforts (Source: RMIT University, 2025 - not explicitly stated in the original text)
  • 90% of respondents felt that better data would improve decision-making in the wake of a disaster (Source: AHURI, 2025)

Sources:

  • Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), 2025
  • UNSW Sydney, 2025
  • Curtin University, 2025
  • RMIT University, 2025
  • "Inquiry into housing policy and disaster: better coordinating actors, responses and data," (AHURI, 2025) - available at www.ahuri.edu.au