The JHNA Insights

Dr Johari Hussein Nassor Amar

We design the world around one version of life. Then life changes. The JHNA Insights is a podcast grounded in a human centric built environment, bringing people, place, property and progress into one conversation. Each episode draws on research, practice and lived experience to explore how we live, move, work and belong. If the system has ever felt like it was not designed with you in mind, you are not imagining it.

  1. 6d ago

    Episode 2.11 The Gap Between Passing Certification and a Building That Holds Up with Craig MacDonald (FRICS)

    A building can pass inspection, receive its certificate and still develop serious defects, as Sydney's Opal Tower and Mascot Towers have shown. What happens when the warning signs are missed and the home you planned to age in becomes a financial burden? In this episode, I am joined by Craig MacDonald, Director – Building Consulting at Beyond Condition and author of The Building Detective. Craig approaches buildings much like a doctor approaches a patient, helping us understand what building defects mean for housing affordability, accessibility and ageing in place. Listen to discover: Why some building surveyors don't certify buildings, and why you might need one before buying a homeWhat happens when an inspection recommends opening up a wall to investigate a suspected defectWhy a $50,000 defect could be a deal-breaker for one buyer and a bargaining chip for anotherWhat uneven ceiling edges and roof tiles that don't sit straight can reveal about a building's conditionWhy managing a strata building might require something like a driver's licence Craig also compares two Scottish bridges, one still carrying trains after more than a century and the other replaced as the main road crossing, revealing which one he thinks Australian buildings most resemble. #BuildingDefects #BuildingCertification #LatentDefects #BuildingInspection #StrataManagement #HousingAffordability #AgeingInPlace

    Episode 2.11 The Gap Between Passing Certification and a Building That Holds Up with Craig MacDonald (FRICS)
  2. Sep 1

    Episode 2.9 Choice, Control and the Search for Home with Alecia Rathbone and Kelly Suber

    You have a right to choose where you live. The NDIS is built around choice and control, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises that right too. In this episode, I speak with Alecia Rathbone, CEO of Housing Hub, and Kelly Super, COO of Inclusive Housing Australia, about why people with disability are still ending up in homes they did not really choose, in places that do not work for their lives, with support that does not always match what they need. If specialist disability housing supply is growing, why are thousands of eligible people still not housed?Why does the funding that pays for your home and the funding that pays for your support not have to match, and what does that mean across a lifetime?Why does the process of securing NDIS housing feel, to the people navigating it, like it was designed to keep them out?Why do four different voices, investor, provider, family and supporter, each shape where a person ends up living, and whose voice actually wins?Choice and control come down to three things: what you need, what is available and what you are funded for. Why do all three so rarely line up?A home that is accessible on paper but isolates you from your community, your healthcare and your family is not an accessible home. It is just a different kind of stuck. #NDISHousingAustralia #AccessibleHousing #AffordabilityDisabilityHousing #AgeingInPlace #UniversalDesign #SDAHousing #SupportedIndependentLiving #InclusiveHousing #HousingChoiceDisability #DisabilityPolicyAustralia

    Episode 2.9 Choice, Control and the Search for Home with Alecia Rathbone and Kelly Suber
  3. Aug 15

    Episode 2.7 Why the Homes That Would Help You Are the Ones You Can’t Afford with Liza Neil and Véronique Lutchmaya

    Finding a home is hard enough. Staying in one, affording to run it, and adapting it when life changes? That is where the housing conversation gets more complicated. In this episode, I speak with Liza Neil, a Principal Architect with more than three decades of experience, and Véronique Lutchmaya, Founder & CEO of Unique Tenants Consult, who built her business from her own experience advocating for tenant rights. Together, they trace the gap between what gets built and the people those homes are supposed to serve. Listen to find out: Why the person managing your home can enter the industry with no prerequisitesWhy commercial tenants are treated as clients worth keeping, while residential tenants often are notWhy protections in the landlord-agent relationship do not necessarily extend to the renterWhy single parents and single renters are being priced out of a market that was never designed to include themWhy a home that works at 30s may leave you with few choices at 60sWhat Australia's WWII housing response can teach us about building smaller and thinking differently about interventionSo perhaps the real question is not simply: “Can I find a home?” But: “Was this market ever designed with me in mind?” Keywords: Australian housing crisis, rental affordability Australia, tenant rights Australia, rental reform Australia, affordable housing, accessible housing, ageing in place, housing stress, property management Australia, livable housing, rent stabilisation, energy efficient rental homes

    Episode 2.7 Why the Homes That Would Help You Are the Ones You Can’t Afford with Liza Neil and Véronique Lutchmaya

About

We design the world around one version of life. Then life changes. The JHNA Insights is a podcast grounded in a human centric built environment, bringing people, place, property and progress into one conversation. Each episode draws on research, practice and lived experience to explore how we live, move, work and belong. If the system has ever felt like it was not designed with you in mind, you are not imagining it.