1
00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,320
Speaker 1: Joining me live in the studio.

2
00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:06,520
Speaker 2: We know that the obviously the Minister for Housing had

3
00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:10,879
Speaker 2: made an announcement yesterday around well, a pretty significant announcement.

4
00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,680
Speaker 1: I think you'd have to say twenty one million dollars.

5
00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,000
Speaker 2: I believe it is is going to be invested into

6
00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:20,040
Speaker 2: more social and affordable housing across Darwin, Palmerston, Catherine, Alice

7
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,000
Speaker 2: Springs and Tenant Creek. There's also going to be money

8
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,480
Speaker 2: invested into an affordable housing rental subsidy program and other things.

9
00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,000
Speaker 2: It's something that we've spoken in the past to Peter

10
00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:36,360
Speaker 2: McMillan from NT Shelter about on numerous occasions, but people

11
00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,720
Speaker 2: sort of going through that rental stress and finding it

12
00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,800
Speaker 2: hard to find somewhere to live. Now joining me in

13
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,559
Speaker 2: the studio from some of the community services I have

14
00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,879
Speaker 2: got laws and Broad Good morning to you, Lawson, Thanks

15
00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:48,320
Speaker 2: for having.

16
00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:49,879
Speaker 1: Me, Thanks for coming in now. You and I had

17
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:51,319
Speaker 1: spoken a couple of months back.

18
00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:53,840
Speaker 2: I reckon it was about some of the stress that

19
00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:58,600
Speaker 2: Territorians were experiencing, you know, as a result I think

20
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,800
Speaker 2: of COVID also as a result of there being a

21
00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,600
Speaker 2: really tough rental mark ash in the Northern Territory and

22
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,280
Speaker 2: people finding it really hard to find somewhere to live

23
00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,800
Speaker 2: that was affordable. How are things going from some of

24
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,040
Speaker 2: Thll's perspective at the moment in that space.

25
00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think we're still seeing very expensive rents.

26
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,480
Speaker 3: But what we have seen, and this is seasonal happens

27
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,440
Speaker 3: with the Northern Territory every year, is we are seeing

28
00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,160
Speaker 3: less into state visitors right now. There are more places

29
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,880
Speaker 3: in the caravan parks and so forth. So that has

30
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,520
Speaker 3: relieved some stress in terms of that emergency accommodation where

31
00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,880
Speaker 3: we have to house people in caravan parks and other places.

32
00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,600
Speaker 3: Very expensive way, but when people are in an emergency,

33
00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,040
Speaker 3: that's what's required. We were struggling at the time just

34
00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,480
Speaker 3: to get people in places. So we're seeing a bit

35
00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:59,080
Speaker 3: more availability there. Rents in Darwin are still very expensive, yeah.

36
00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:01,240
Speaker 2: I know. We hear that ditally quite often that it

37
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,400
Speaker 2: is still an expensive place to find somewhere to rent.

38
00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:06,880
Speaker 2: We've even spoken to people who've said that their rent's

39
00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,680
Speaker 2: gone up an enormous amount for exactly the same place.

40
00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,880
Speaker 2: And you know, nothing sort of nothing changing a huge

41
00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,160
Speaker 2: amount aside from the rental market just sort of getting

42
00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:19,520
Speaker 2: more expensive and there being less places available.

43
00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:25,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. It's a small market and as soon as

44
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,160
Speaker 3: we get an influx of people here, the market responds.

45
00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,560
Speaker 3: I described it as profit hearing. I don't think it's necessary,

46
00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:36,480
Speaker 3: but when there's really strong demand from the market, landlords

47
00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,600
Speaker 3: who hold investment properties want to see those perform well

48
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,080
Speaker 3: and they ratchet rents up. But you're right, we were

49
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,639
Speaker 3: seeing rents go up two hundred dollars a week for

50
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,560
Speaker 3: the same property. That's really challenging and we have seen

51
00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:53,560
Speaker 3: people leave the territory as a result. They just can't

52
00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:53,800
Speaker 3: do it.

53
00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:58,679
Speaker 2: Yeah. Also through Somerville, how often are people coming to

54
00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:04,120
Speaker 2: seek sort of assistance that are really struggling at the

55
00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,160
Speaker 2: moment as maybe as a result of COVID over the

56
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,519
Speaker 2: last couple of years. But are you seeing a large

57
00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,480
Speaker 2: volume and does that increase as you get closer to Christmas?

58
00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,080
Speaker 3: Are we seeing a large volume? It's daily We're seeing

59
00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,320
Speaker 3: people come in who for a whole variety of circumstances

60
00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:29,200
Speaker 3: don't have housing. Very often we're putting them up into

61
00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:35,040
Speaker 3: shelters or short term accommodation. That's expensive, that's not sustainable

62
00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:42,160
Speaker 3: in terms of COVID. I think in Catherine at the moment,

63
00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:46,280
Speaker 3: people are really struggling because when the community is locked down,

64
00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:53,360
Speaker 3: visitors to town can't leave and they're in town, we're

65
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,720
Speaker 3: only there with the intent of staying for a short

66
00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:00,400
Speaker 3: while with family or elsewhere, and then they're stuck and

67
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,480
Speaker 3: so everything's everything's tied up. You've got a large number

68
00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:08,680
Speaker 3: of people living in houses and no options. I think

69
00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,200
Speaker 3: for a long time a visitor park in Catherine has

70
00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,640
Speaker 3: been talked about. We haven't seen anything concrete on that

71
00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:19,279
Speaker 3: front yet. It would be great to see some attention

72
00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:21,599
Speaker 3: paid to that need.

73
00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,560
Speaker 2: He Yesterday, obviously, the Northern Territory Government made this announcement

74
00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,240
Speaker 2: that they're set to invest twenty one million dollars into

75
00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:33,679
Speaker 2: more social and affordable housing across Darwin, Palmerston, Catherine, Alice

76
00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,560
Speaker 2: Springs and Tenant Creek. Money is also going to be

77
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,880
Speaker 2: invested on an affordable housing rental subsidy program. There's going

78
00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:44,640
Speaker 2: to be an investment into building additional affordable housing units

79
00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,760
Speaker 2: as well in Palmerston and Catherine, and there will be

80
00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:52,719
Speaker 2: the release of the first land packages for community housing

81
00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:58,880
Speaker 2: projects as well as additional land packages for specialist disability accommodation.

82
00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,200
Speaker 2: Now from I can gather from what the Minister had

83
00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,480
Speaker 2: said earlier this morning. The first seven million dollars of

84
00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:07,960
Speaker 2: this spend is going to be rolled out immediately with

85
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,960
Speaker 2: Venture Housing to supply forty one affordable homes across the

86
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,880
Speaker 2: Northern territory. How important is this and how far will

87
00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:17,240
Speaker 2: it go?

88
00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,720
Speaker 3: So this is a really encouraging announcement. I think the

89
00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,599
Speaker 3: last time that we spoke, I was pretty clear in

90
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,800
Speaker 3: my frustration that we had seen a lot of talk

91
00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:29,680
Speaker 3: for a long time and not a lot of action.

92
00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,719
Speaker 3: Was pretty clear in my call to say, we just

93
00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,600
Speaker 3: need to see we just need to see action, and

94
00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:40,320
Speaker 3: we are seeing action. It's a fantastic it's a fantastic result.

95
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,880
Speaker 3: I think the really important part of this to me

96
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:48,039
Speaker 3: is that for a long time we haven't seen a

97
00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,800
Speaker 3: lot of investment in urban housing. It's in my experience,

98
00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:55,560
Speaker 3: it's very challenging for a housing minister and a housing

99
00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:59,320
Speaker 3: department to get their voice heard in cabinet, particularly through

100
00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,240
Speaker 3: the budget. What this says to me is that the

101
00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:06,559
Speaker 3: Minister is getting her voice her that these needs are

102
00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:11,000
Speaker 3: being taken seriously, and it's my understanding that these initiatives

103
00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:17,120
Speaker 3: have the Chief Minister's personal support. That's that's really encouraging

104
00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:21,800
Speaker 3: for me to hear in terms of these initiatives, some

105
00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:25,919
Speaker 3: of them look really quite quite creative. It's good to

106
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:31,400
Speaker 3: see new options happening there. Whatever the impact is, it's

107
00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,680
Speaker 3: it's going to be positive. It's going to have an

108
00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:39,680
Speaker 3: impact on the market as a whole. It's my understanding

109
00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,800
Speaker 3: also that this is the first of a number of

110
00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:45,960
Speaker 3: announcements to come. I think we'll see I think we'll

111
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:52,080
Speaker 3: see some significant money announced in the new year. Also,

112
00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,440
Speaker 3: I don't have any detail around that, but certainly I'm

113
00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:57,760
Speaker 3: looking forward to hearing about it.

114
00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,360
Speaker 2: From your perspective, you know, as the person that is

115
00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:04,720
Speaker 2: running some of your community services, who has people come in,

116
00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,480
Speaker 2: like you'd said, every day who are facing real hardship.

117
00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:12,400
Speaker 2: How important is it that we do invest into things

118
00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,760
Speaker 2: like social and affordable housing and trying to make sure

119
00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,560
Speaker 2: that you know that that people have got somewhere to live.

120
00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,800
Speaker 2: And very often we're actually talking about people who you know,

121
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:28,000
Speaker 2: who have got jobs and they're they're working incredibly hard,

122
00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,800
Speaker 2: but you know, their pay is not quite getting them

123
00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,160
Speaker 2: to the point where they're able to actually buy their

124
00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,160
Speaker 2: own home or they're able to you know, to comfortably

125
00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:40,000
Speaker 2: pay their rent and also feed their families.

126
00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think the important thing here is having

127
00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,560
Speaker 3: is having options. It's not a one size or it's

128
00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,200
Speaker 3: not a one size fits all solutions. So it's great

129
00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:53,640
Speaker 3: to see a range of different initiatives being supported through this.

130
00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,400
Speaker 3: The people that we're seeing are often in crisis. We

131
00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:04,200
Speaker 3: are very often seeing people mums attempting to escape domestic violence.

132
00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:09,480
Speaker 3: So we know that when someone gets to that point,

133
00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:14,119
Speaker 3: that's the most dangerous place for them to be trying

134
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,600
Speaker 3: to step away from the home and to a place

135
00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:22,000
Speaker 3: of safety. So there's a significant amount of money they're

136
00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:26,840
Speaker 3: associated with the Domestic Family Violence Center to be run

137
00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:30,080
Speaker 3: by the Salvation Army in Palmerston. And again it's my

138
00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,679
Speaker 3: understanding that the Chief Minister has identified two really clear priorities.

139
00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:36,640
Speaker 3: One of those is domestic violence and the other is

140
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:41,440
Speaker 3: affordable housing. So great to see that'll have a really

141
00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,680
Speaker 3: big impact for the people presenting to us in terms

142
00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,920
Speaker 3: of other options. Really interested to see how those micro

143
00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:53,640
Speaker 3: apartments come together. It looks like that will be a

144
00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:58,640
Speaker 3: really affordable option for people who don't need a big

145
00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:00,680
Speaker 3: place to live, they just need somewhere to live.

146
00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:03,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, it will be interesting to see how they go.

147
00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,440
Speaker 2: It's not something that I've sort of seen happen here

148
00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:07,320
Speaker 2: in the territory before the micro apartments.

149
00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:12,920
Speaker 3: No, it does happen elsewhere, quite successful elsewhere, and as

150
00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:15,360
Speaker 3: I say, really really interesting to see how it'll come

151
00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:16,640
Speaker 3: together Lawson.

152
00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,600
Speaker 2: As we get closer to Christmas, I would imagine that

153
00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,600
Speaker 2: some of ill does become quite busy.

154
00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,040
Speaker 1: I know that that is just an assumption. Is that

155
00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:25,600
Speaker 1: the case.

156
00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:27,920
Speaker 2: Do you expect that there's more people going to come

157
00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,160
Speaker 2: to you guys looking for support?

158
00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:34,120
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, We've got a lot of additional people in

159
00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:39,920
Speaker 3: town who don't have their usual support networks around them.

160
00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:44,960
Speaker 3: And again it's a really sad story, but people who

161
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,760
Speaker 3: are attempting to escape domestic violence. This is often a

162
00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:53,640
Speaker 3: peak period in terms of those types of incidents. Some

163
00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:56,560
Speaker 3: of it was very fortunate as part of a national

164
00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:04,000
Speaker 3: consortium to be funded for an Escaping Family of Escaping

165
00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:09,520
Speaker 3: Violence payment, so that provides up to five thousand dollars

166
00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:14,880
Speaker 3: for an individual to escape their unsafe environment. That is

167
00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:20,120
Speaker 3: just a fantastic initiative and where we're being overwhelmed with

168
00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:21,440
Speaker 3: demand for that right now.

169
00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:21,680
Speaker 2: Ah.

170
00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:25,840
Speaker 3: So that's about finding safe accommodation for people, that's about

171
00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,400
Speaker 3: helping them to move into state back to family where

172
00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:34,719
Speaker 3: they have a support network as a commonwealth initiative and

173
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:36,960
Speaker 3: really exciting.

174
00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:40,600
Speaker 2: So five thousand dollars and they obviously, you know, there

175
00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:42,480
Speaker 2: might be people listening this morning who are in a

176
00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,320
Speaker 2: really difficult situation. A woman may be listening this morning

177
00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:49,320
Speaker 2: who is thinking, how do I escape the situation that

178
00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:52,320
Speaker 2: I'm currently in? Is there a way for people to

179
00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:54,600
Speaker 2: get in contact with Somerville? Is it something that's quite

180
00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:56,480
Speaker 2: simple for them to do in terms of coming in

181
00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:57,920
Speaker 2: and speaking to you guys.

182
00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:02,920
Speaker 3: Very simple process and people can come and see us directly,

183
00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:10,080
Speaker 3: or they can be referred by another local domestic violent

184
00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:16,600
Speaker 3: shelter or other provider. We often there are just essential

185
00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,440
Speaker 3: items that people need to purchase to set up a house.

186
00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,480
Speaker 3: Whether it's a fridge, whether it's a plane ticket, whether

187
00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,120
Speaker 3: it's a rental bond. All of those things help because

188
00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,640
Speaker 3: very often people are trapped because they simply don't have

189
00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:32,920
Speaker 3: the resources to escape in a safe way.

190
00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:37,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, what a tragic situation that some people are in.

191
00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,559
Speaker 2: And I know, well, I don't know, but it must

192
00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:42,040
Speaker 2: be so difficult for them to then try to get

193
00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,520
Speaker 2: out of those situations. Is there if there are people

194
00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:47,640
Speaker 2: listening this morning who maybe want a little bit more

195
00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:50,320
Speaker 2: information about the stuff that some of ill does.

196
00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:52,320
Speaker 1: They can head to your website, can't.

197
00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:56,120
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and all our contact details are there, ye called directly.

198
00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:58,199
Speaker 3: We've got an office at the corner of vandal And

199
00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,280
Speaker 3: Drive and Lee Point Road and another for Sin Victoria

200
00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:03,599
Speaker 3: Drive in Palmerston or Catherine.

201
00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:06,520
Speaker 2: And if there's somebody listening this morning who thinks that

202
00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:09,240
Speaker 2: is wonderful work that Somerville is doing, I'd like to

203
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,240
Speaker 2: donate to them. Is that something that they can do

204
00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:11,720
Speaker 2: as well?

205
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:17,920
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and we would welcome every donation. So I want

206
00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:22,240
Speaker 3: to be clear around that that every single dollar that

207
00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:26,680
Speaker 3: people donate towards us goes towards emergency assistance. There's not

208
00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:29,200
Speaker 3: a dollar that gets kept by us for any type

209
00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,959
Speaker 3: of overheads. It goes into a discrete pool of funding

210
00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:35,680
Speaker 3: and it ends up being a direct payment to people

211
00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:37,040
Speaker 3: who need emergency support.

212
00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:37,760
Speaker 1: Yeah.

213
00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,920
Speaker 2: Well, the awesome broad sea of Somerville community services here

214
00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,480
Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory always appreciate your time. Thank you

215
00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:44,880
Speaker 2: very much for coming in this morning.

216
00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:46,360
Speaker 3: Goods Katie, Thank you