The Dwelling Project

Theology and ethics of housing in Australia

Australia’s housing crisis is not just an economic or policy challenge. It’s also a profound moral question: about justice, what a home means, what we owe one another, and the kind of society we want to be.

The Dwelling Project is a partnership between Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics & Society and Faith Housing Australia, bringing the theological and ethical traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam into conversation with questions of housing, home and belonging in contemporary Australia.

We’re combining serious theological and ethical research with the practical experience of faith communities that own land, provide housing and work alongside people experiencing housing insecurity. The project works across three interconnected streams:

• Academic research: Advance original theological, ethical and interdisciplinary scholarship on housing, home and dwelling, drawing on the traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
• Faith-sector engagement: Create trusted opportunities for faith leaders and institutions to examine their responsibilities, engage with housing challenges and consider how their values, resources and relationships might contribute to housing justice.
• Public dialogue: Bring theological and ethical insights into public conversation about housing, enriching national debate and encouraging deeper reflection on home, justice, belonging and our responsibilities to one another.

Research develops knowledge and frameworks. Institutional engagement tests ideas against practical realities and generates new questions. Public dialogue brings broader perspectives and lived experience into the inquiry, while extending its contribution to Australian society.

Our ambition is to contribute new scholarship, enrich public debate and help translate these insights into meaningful action across Australian society.

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Meet our team

• Dr Denise Buiten, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice & Sociology
• Professor Stephen Bullivant, Professorial Research Fellow in Theology and Sociology
• Dr Katherine Chambers, Senior Research Fellow in Medieval Philosophy
• Rev Professor Eamonn Conway, Chair of Integral Human Development
• Dr Elizabeth Culhane, Research Associate in the History of Philosophy
• Rev Dr Andrew Errington, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Theological Ethics
• Associate Professor Rosemary Hancock, Senior Research Fellow in Religion Culture and Society
• Rev Dr Arthur Keefer, Senior Research Fellow in Bible and Philosophy
• Professor Sandra Lynch, Honorary Professor of Moral Philosophy and Founding Director, Institute for Ethics & Society
• Associate Professor Nathan Lyons, Co-Director, Institute for Ethics & Society
• Professor Rose Thomson, Professor of Practice in Faith Leadership and Housing Justice
• Imogen Tyndale, Honorary Research Fellow
• Professor Lisa Wood, Professor of Public Health

Contact us

For inquiries about the Dwelling Project, please contact us via email Institute of Ethics & Society.