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Speaker 1: Now we know that it's National Homelessness Week and experts

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Speaker 1: are warning the number of young people at risk of

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Speaker 1: homelessness is growing. The most recent census stater shows nearly

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Speaker 1: a quarter of ossies who are experiencing homelessness are aged

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Speaker 1: twelve to twenty four. Now, NT Shelter Coordinator Annie Taylor

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Speaker 1: says young people make up a large part of the

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Speaker 1: homelessness population here in the Northern Territory and Annie joins

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Speaker 1: me on the line right now.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Annie, Good morning Katie, thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. Now, firstly, what

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Speaker 1: is the aim of National Homelessness Week.

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Speaker 2: So Homelessness Week is mark annually and the point of

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Speaker 2: Homelessness Week is to raise awareness of the levels of

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Speaker 2: homelessness in Australia and the theme this year is It's

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Speaker 2: time to end homelessness, which it really is and Homelessness

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Speaker 2: Week us here in the Northern Territory is a chance

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Speaker 2: to reflect on the really appalling homelessness statistic that we

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Speaker 2: have here in the NT. You mentioned earlier that we

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Speaker 2: have a high number of young people who are experiencing

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Speaker 2: homelessness here and we do. That's almost fifty percent of

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Speaker 2: our homeless population here in the NT is under the

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Speaker 2: age of twenty five, so that's a huge amount of people.

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Speaker 2: And we have also increasing numbers of older Territorians aged

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Speaker 2: over fifty five who are experiencing homelessness. And if we

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Speaker 2: compare ourselves nationally, we have twelve times the national average

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Speaker 2: rate of homelessness here in the NT. So Homelessness Week

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Speaker 2: is a chance to reflect on that and you know,

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Speaker 2: really take it seriously because they're pretty horrendous statistics.

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Speaker 1: Annie, Why is that we've got the very young and

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Speaker 1: then the older population that are at greatest risk here

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Speaker 1: in the territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, the number one form of homelessness that we

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Speaker 2: have here in the NT is people living in severely

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Speaker 2: crowded dwellings, So that's almost eighty percent of that homeless population.

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Speaker 2: In short, we simply don't have enough houses that are

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Speaker 2: affordable and appropriate to house our population. And the government itself,

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Speaker 2: the NT Government, estimates that we have a shortfall of

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Speaker 2: up to twelve thousand social and affordable homes required across

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Speaker 2: the NT by twenty twenty five. And of course we've

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Speaker 2: got an exciting and ambitious plan to grow our economy

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Speaker 2: to a forty billion dollar economy by twenty thirty. But

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Speaker 2: that assumes population growth, and we need to ensure that

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Speaker 2: we have houses for people who want to call the

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Speaker 2: NT their homes.

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Speaker 1: So tell me what do we need to do here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, there are a few things. You know, it's really

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Speaker 2: unfortunate here because the funding that we get from the

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Speaker 2: federal government for housing and homelessness is we only get

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Speaker 2: one point three percent of that federal funding despite having

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Speaker 2: twelve times the national average rate of homelessness. So we've

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Speaker 2: got a lot of need here. But because the NT

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Speaker 2: is funded on population, that means not getting needs based

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Speaker 2: funding that reflects the level of need that we have

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Speaker 2: here in the territory. So that's what we're advocating needs

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Speaker 2: to change, and it really does need to change because

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Speaker 2: we've got homelessness services who are doing an amazing job,

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Speaker 2: and I think Homelessness Week is also a chance to

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Speaker 2: acknowledge the fantastic work that they do on the frontline

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Speaker 2: day in day out. But ultimately there really are under

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Speaker 2: resource because it's just there's just not enough funding coming

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Speaker 2: in for the amount of people who are seeking support.

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Speaker 2: And going back to those young people, there are three

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Speaker 2: hundred and twenty young people a day in the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory who are supported by homelessness services. And if we

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Speaker 2: consider that the average domestic passenger plane in Australia holds

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Speaker 2: about one hundred and eighty people, that's almost two planeloads

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Speaker 2: of young people every day being supported by these really

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Speaker 2: important services. So it's really quite shocking.

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Speaker 1: Well, Annie, it is, and and you know, I think

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Speaker 1: that we do need to make some moves here in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, well right around the nation. There's no

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Speaker 1: doubt that homelessness is having a big impact in so

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Speaker 1: many ways. And I guess we talk a lot like

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Speaker 1: about public housing, we talk about social housing and also

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Speaker 1: affordable housing, and I know that we've had Peter McMillan

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Speaker 1: on the show before to talk about the need for

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Speaker 1: more of all of those kinds of housing.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, it really is across the board. We've also

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Speaker 2: got renters out there who are dealing with low vacancy

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Speaker 2: rates and high rocketing rents and that's really tricky for people.

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Speaker 2: We want people to want to come and live in

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Speaker 2: the territory and be part of the territory lifestyle, but

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Speaker 2: unfortunately what we're hearing is that we actually have people

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Speaker 2: who are leaving the territory because they just can't get

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Speaker 2: into the rental market here, they can't afford to live here,

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Speaker 2: and that's absolutely the opposite of what we want to hear.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you're spot on well, Annie Taylor, the Mt Shelter

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Speaker 1: Regional Coordinator in Central Australia, I really appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning. Thanks so much for.

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Speaker 2: Having a chat with us, Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you