Happy Days' Fonzie solving Australia's housing crisis
A television sitcom star of the 1980s who epitomised the notion of cool at the time, is now seen as an early adopter of the types of granny flat, and Fonzie flat, accommodation needed to address a chronic shortage of housing.
Independent living spaces above a garage, popularised by TV sitcom character Fonzie, are typical of the sorts of dwellings needed to address a critical housing shortage. (Image source: Shutterstock.com)
When American scriptwriters more than three decades ago moved a minor sitcom character into the garage attic of the main protagonist’s family, little could they have known they’d be pre-empting a solution to Australia’s housing crisis.
The Fonz, or Fonzie, was the leather jacket-wearing definition of cool and became a, if not the, star of the long-running Happy Days television comedy series.
Fast forward (a feature not available to 1980s viewer…
