00:00Sitting with her mum outside her Binjari home near Catherine, Stella Raymond waits for her
00:10kids to get home from school. Stella grew up here with five children of her own. It's not
00:17the community she remembers as a kid. It's changed a lot. As I was growing up, yeah,
00:23it changed a lot. The kids just see people comes in with alcohol and that's a big issue here.
00:31Stella says housing is the other major problem for families like hers.
00:36In my household I got five kids and me and my partner and we live in a two-bedroom
00:41flat. I meant to get a new house, like a three-bedroom house, but still waiting on housing to clear that up.
00:49A lack of housing and services across the territory's bush communities are forcing many
00:54residents into town centres where homelessness is rife. Those lucky enough to get a bed in Darwin
01:01often end up stuck in a cycle of short-term accommodation. This 180-bed facility run by
01:07Catholic Care is at capacity as demand for public housing reaches record highs.
01:13For public housing applicants, the wait time for a one-bedroom unit in Darwin
01:18is up to a decade. Last year, of the 2,344 applications for public housing across Darwin,
01:26just 101 people were allocated a home, leaving the rest with limited options.
01:34Michelle Martin has been here since January. Her sons and grandsons suffer from a rare brain disorder
01:40and they have to travel from Man and Greta to get treatment. Michelle is also dealing with her own
01:45health challenges and needs to stay on in Darwin to be closer to doctors.
01:50She's been on a wait list for permanent housing in Darwin since 2020, but her application is on hold
02:06because she doesn't have a tenancy reference. Catholic Care NT has plans to build 44 new
02:12social homes on this block. We're ready to go. We have practically a shovel-ready project here.
02:19But the plans have hit a wall. A funding application under a federal government initiative supporting
02:2520,000 new social homes and 10,000 affordable homes across the country has been knocked back.
02:31We applied for funding for the Housing Australia Future Fund rounds one and two. Sadly, we were rejected.
02:38Of the 183 projects selected for funding under round one of the initiative, just five are from the NT.
02:46It costs a lot to build houses up in the territory. You know, we have skills shortages, labour shortages.
02:52If Housing Australia is looking at quotas and ticking boxes, the territory is going to get left behind.
02:57Marama Johnstone says she's seen people forced to return to community, sometimes to violent or dangerous situations,
03:05because there's no other option. People just need shelter and there's nowhere.
03:09Back in Binjari, Stella wants to see her children thrive on country and says a bigger house is the first step.
03:17Big difference. Yeah, big difference and better community. That's what we want.
03:24Big difference. Relieving pressure on the city by addressing problems in the bush.
Comments