What role can Fonzie play in ending Australia’s housing crisis?

While the dwelling type is named after the man famed for bringing the thumbs up into pop culture, not all is well in the Australian property market, as vacancies dry and prices rise, leaving many scrambling for innovative solutions to heal such woes.

Mike Day, partner at Hatch RobertsDay, believes “Fonzie flats” offer an innovative solution to Australia’s housing crisis, especially when considering the impact they’ve had on the other side of the Pacific.

As Australian properties, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, edge closer to becoming some of the world’s most expensive, and with existing backlogs already in the hundreds of thousands, Mr Day said change must come sooner rather than later.

“Changing the entire Australian housing industry simply isn’t feasible in the short term,” he conceded, adding “but we can finely tune our existing housing model”.

“For instance, we should be utilising the existing space that many Australians have by building granny flats in backyards and by putting Fonzi flats on top of existing garages,” he said.

In his view: “Our inadequate supply of public or community-owner housing leaves us ill-equipped to take care of our most vulnerable or reduce existing backlogs.”

He insists Australia should follow the lead of California, which is experiencing a boom of basement suites, garage apartments and backyard cottages, also known as accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

In 2017, the state passed laws forcing cities to relax their restrictions on ADU construction, and five years later over 30,000 ADU permits were applied for, double the amount from 2018. In Chicago, Miami and other parts of the US, ADUs are also taking over.

Mr Day sees Fonzi schemes becoming a common component of Australia’s housing markets will be a great way to increase desperately needed housing stock without altering the fabric of many neighbourhoods.

“They don’t have a major impact on communities or add many new cars to the roads, and they are well-suited to seniors who don’t want to live on the same piece of land as family members, or for younger people dealing with a tough housing market,” he said.

“It’s a cost-effective and environmentally sound housing solution, which can be adapted to existing urban areas or emerging metropolitan growth areas,” Mr Day stated.

“It would also assist communities to be more connected by accommodating multiple generations and different familial structures into neighbourhoods,” he added.

As Australia’s housing crisis worsens, more prominent voices are calling on innovation to help, including Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles.

“We cannot only rely on traditional models and new greenfield development as the answer for housing choice and affordability given what we know about people’s preferences,” Mr Miles said.

Last year, the Sunshine State introduced legislation allowing people to rent out granny flats, which is not permitted in other states.

“At the end of the day, the only way to provide more attainable housing is to foster diversity in housing forms and build more of it where people want to live,” Mr Day concluded.