About RAD Housing

The Retrofit and Decommodify (RAD) Housing approach is one possible approach to collectivising housing. It is a transitional model based on current conditions, and is intended to complement other approaches seeking to ensure equitable housing for all.

The goal of RAD housing is to collectively acquire, retrofit, and decommodify existing suburban housing so that we, and others, can live in resilient and affordable housing.

This goal has emerged in response to both the climate crisis and the housing crisis. The housing crisis highlights barriers to meeting our basic need for shelter within a capitalist system (that treats housing as a commodity that can be sold or rented-out on the basis of a changing market price rather than quality). Within this system, most of the available housing is low-quality and will not provide adequate shelter during the extreme weather events we will increasingly face over the coming years.

Collective approaches to RAD housing are driven by grassroots efforts that can emerge differently depending on the local context in ways that complement other initiatives helping to improve access to affordable, secure, housing and/or increase the environmental sustainability of housing.

One way to collectivise to decommodify housing is to implement a version of the Transition to Stewardship (T2S) Model. This model is intended as a set of guidelines for navigating the legal and financial governance of transitioning from shared-ownership to collective stewardship of multiple houses (within the the context of the owner/rental dichotomy within the Australian housing systems).

With the financial/legal context of the State of Victoria, the T2S model may also make it easier for small groups to leverage their financial and social privileges to begin a Seedling Project of acquiring and retrofitting properties in ways that involve a broader group of supporters who are interested in participating as residents once these decommodified properties become and available as affordable housing.

This approach is suited to housing collectives that include people with a range of income levels and available capital to work together.

For housing collectives seeking to implement these guidelines for specific housing collectives, an important step will be identifying the most appropriate participatory processes for making specific decisions for the various type of decisions needed for participants of different forms to collectively steward multiple houses in ways that align with RAD goals.

The RAD housing project also offers one small way to contribute to prefiguring better futures by providing opportunities to live collectively in ways that help us to practice commoning and act in solidarity with more radical movements for change.