Homelessness peak body NT Shelter has said the sevenfold increase in the federal budget for home construction and homelessness services in the NT could be a “game changer”.
NT Shelter head of operations Annie Taylor told the ABC this week “that with the increase from $5.9 million to $42.8 million from the federal government there was now a “really good chance” to decrease the NT’s homelessness rate.
The last Census showed there were 13,104 people homeless in the Northern Territory, a rate 12 times the national average, with indigenous people making up 87 per cent of the Northern Territory’s homeless population.
She said the NT was also given $25 million from a $1 billion fund to build supporting infrastructure needed for new housing supply, plus there was a ten-year $4 billion joint investment between the Australian and NT governments to built 270 houses each year in remote communities, and repair and maintain existing housing.
However Ms Taylor there had been years of underfunding so it would take time to catch up.
“We’ve got a service system that is so underfunded and under demand, and what that’s meant is that services are really the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff,” she said.
“We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure that funding gets where it’s needed the most and has the largest impact. Preventing experiences of homelessness from occurring in the first place is central to decreasing those numbers of people experiencing homelessness.”
In March NT Shelter chief executive officer Peter McMillan told the ABC that homelessness in the NT was dire.
“Just to give you an indication, New Zealand is the country with the highest rate of homelessness in the entire OECD, with 1 per cent of its population experiencing homelessness,” Mr McMillan said.
“While in the Northern Territory, we have just over 5 per cent of our population who are homeless, just under 12 times the national rate of homelessness in Australia; it really underscores just how poor we perform in terms of homelessness up here.”
There is going to be a lot of Community Housing and Government funded programs for homeless in the NT! The locations will be residential suburbs and details conveniently announced after the Election!
Approach your current MLA and prospective MLA’s now about making sure your suburb is not a recipient of more Public Housing (of any category) stock!
If they say they do not know then inform them your not voting for them! Contact Details are Hon Ngaree Ah Kit MLA is the Minister for Urban Housing! +61 (08) 8936 5590 or Minister.AhKit@nt.gov.au
Take it from a Parap resident, once a lot of Public Housing stock was removed, Parap is a entirely different, sought after, pleasant suburb with a sought after public school.
Do not get effed over by a vacating Labour Government!