Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Minister for Urban Housing Kate Worden explains the new community housing approach

Transcript

Minister for Urban Housing Kate Worden explains the new community housing approach · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: More than two thousand public housing properties will be transferred
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: to community housing providers as part of a multimillion dollar
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: community housing strategy launched yesterday. Five hundred homes across Darwin
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and Palmerston are going to be transferred imminently with an
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: EOI release. It also means that there'll be an additional
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: five hundred dwellings two hundred and fifty in both Alice
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  Speaker 1: Springs and Greater Darwin that are going to be transferred
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  Speaker 1: during the next financial year. Now, it is all part
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory Community Housing Growth Strategy for twenty
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: twenty two to thirty two, which comes with an initial
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  Speaker 1: investment of twenty two point three million dollars to fund initiatives,
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  Speaker 1: investments and works including redevelopment opportunities and managing the construction
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: of additional social and affordable housing homes across the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: So what does this all mean for Territorians. Well, joining
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  Speaker 1: me on the line to tell us a bit more
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  Speaker 1: is the Minister for Urban Housing, Kate Warden.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to your minister.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Minister, what is the aim of this strategy?
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  Speaker 4: So overall this is a it sets a relationship up
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  Speaker 4: with the community housing sector where we will it's a
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  Speaker 4: key feature of this plan. So it's a ten year
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  Speaker 4: plan to really change the way that affordable, social and
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  Speaker 4: public housing will work right the way across Norn territory
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  Speaker 4: for the next ten years. So a key feature and
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  Speaker 4: you mentioned it there, is that the existing will transfer
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  Speaker 4: the existing management of up to forty percent and that's
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  Speaker 4: that two thousand figure, just over two thousand public housing
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  Speaker 4: properties in the.
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  Speaker 3: Next ten years will be handed over to them community
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  Speaker 3: housing sector. And that's just it makes a lot of sense, Katy.
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  Speaker 4: It's being done all over Australia and that really what
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  Speaker 4: that happens is that the community housing sector, they have
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  Speaker 4: a charitable status, so they get some tax relief around
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  Speaker 4: the way they manage those They are absolutely able to
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  Speaker 4: get new money into the territory through the Commonwealth Rental
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  Speaker 4: Assistance program, which is the territory government can't do, so
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  Speaker 4: that then gives them more money than we can have
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  Speaker 4: to reinvest.
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  Speaker 3: Into the system.
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  Speaker 4: It also means that they can leverage the properties. Those
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  Speaker 4: properties essentially go onto their books and they're able to
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  Speaker 4: for a ten to twenty year period of time and
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  Speaker 4: they're then able to leverage different money that we just
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  Speaker 4: can't get and finance that we can't get, so they'll
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  Speaker 4: be able to leverage those in order to build and
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  Speaker 4: develop their properties over time. They can get money out
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  Speaker 4: of places like the Nifik and the Knafe and get
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  Speaker 4: some more they can, so they just literally.
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  Speaker 3: Use the equity and those properties to do that. Government
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  Speaker 3: just can't do it. It makes an awful lot of sense.
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  Speaker 4: It's just taken a while to bed down the process
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  Speaker 4: for those things to happen.
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  Speaker 3: And we're now in the right place with that strategy
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  Speaker 3: coming out.
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  Speaker 4: So that means, as you said, the ex version of interest,
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  Speaker 4: there's two lots in the first round, which is Darwin
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  Speaker 4: and Palmerston, of two hundred and fifty dwellings in each
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  Speaker 4: of those packages. We'll transfer them over and they can
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  Speaker 4: start using that to leverage that additional money into the
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  Speaker 4: Northern territory.
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  Speaker 1: So, Minister, how many public well how long are our
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  Speaker 1: public housing weight lists at the moment.
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  Speaker 4: So those weightlists are very in different spaces, so I
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  Speaker 4: think it's much tighter a longer weightlist in somewhere like
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  Speaker 4: Tenant Creek. But it also depends on the status of
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  Speaker 4: the person. It depends on We've got a large weight
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  Speaker 4: list for people wanting a one bedroom for example, than
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  Speaker 4: a four bedroom house, So it really depends what you need,
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  Speaker 4: what your requirements are, and where you're located. The lower
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  Speaker 4: there's lower weight lists, I think in Palmerston than other places.
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  Speaker 4: So I can't say to you that you know there's
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  Speaker 4: a three year weightlist here and a two year weightless
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  Speaker 4: there because it really depends. And there's also prior there's
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  Speaker 4: weightless people. But we've also got John Stokes coming that
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  Speaker 4: will be ready a bit later this year, and there's
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  Speaker 4: sixty six beds I think bedrooms available.
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  Speaker 3: Actually I think there's more than seventy.
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  Speaker 4: There's seventy six actually, Katie, new dwellings that will come
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  Speaker 4: on there.
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  Speaker 3: So the weight list will reduce.
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  Speaker 2: I guess we have that well.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess what people listening this morning will be thinking.
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  Speaker 1: Is this transfer to community housing providers going to see
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  Speaker 1: weight lists reduced or is it going to is it
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  Speaker 1: also going to mean that they can be managed differently
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  Speaker 1: so we maybe don't see the volume of anti social
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  Speaker 1: behavior that we do currently.
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  Speaker 4: So can I say, Katie that most public housing tenants
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  Speaker 4: are amazing. I think you know we do see some
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  Speaker 4: that are not good, and it wouldn't matter if it's
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  Speaker 4: in community houses. It wouldn't matter if it was in
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  Speaker 4: community housing hands or our hands.
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  Speaker 3: We all will take action.
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  Speaker 4: We all covered by the same legislation, the Residential Tenancies Act,
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  Speaker 4: in reference to how we manage poor behavior by tenants,
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  Speaker 4: and generally I will say it's their visitors.
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  Speaker 3: That cause problems.
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  Speaker 4: What we will see with the change is you'll see
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  Speaker 4: their ability to deal with tenancies that are pretty complex
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  Speaker 4: will be different.
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  Speaker 3: They'll be able to have specialist staff around that.
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  Speaker 4: We've already placed Team Health, for example, they provide mental
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  Speaker 4: health services, and we've already transferred over the last twelve
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  Speaker 4: months some properties to them, and we actually have reduced
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  Speaker 4: significantly anti social behavior in and around those properties in
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  Speaker 4: Run Street. And anybody that's been around for a long
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  Speaker 4: time in the territory will know that Run Street used
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  Speaker 4: to be an absolute hot bed for antisocial behavior and
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  Speaker 4: it is no longer. And that's simply because we work
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  Speaker 4: with Team Health. They're a community housing provider, but we'll
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  Speaker 4: do small scale work with them.
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  Speaker 3: But what you will see is you'll see some.
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  Speaker 4: Placemaking activities where you'll get a mix of tenants, so
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  Speaker 4: you won't just get this concentration of people on very
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  Speaker 4: low socio economic You'll get some affordable housing, you'll get
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  Speaker 4: some social housing. They'll really mix it up. They'll also
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  Speaker 4: build new dwellings. But what I can say is I'm
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  Speaker 4: also going to be building new dwellings as well. And
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  Speaker 4: we do have John Stokes coming on, so we will
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  Speaker 4: see a drop in the weight lists over the next
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  Speaker 4: twelve months because of Jones Stokes. But of course then
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  Speaker 4: we've got a project going on in the Narrows, so
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  Speaker 4: we've obviously got some movement of tenants out of there,
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  Speaker 4: so that when you're moving tenants around that artificially inflates
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  Speaker 4: the weight list at that point in time, and then
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  Speaker 4: you get a new property like we'll see with John
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  Speaker 4: Stokes coming on. So it's short I always say it, Katie,
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  Speaker 4: it's short term paying for some longer term gain and
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  Speaker 4: there's a lot of that happening at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: So Minister, is this transfer to those community housing providers?
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  Speaker 1: Is it acknowledgment that the government can't do the job
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  Speaker 1: or is it the opposite that is sort of spreading
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  Speaker 1: the load.
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  Speaker 2: I guess.
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  Speaker 4: So we've seen overall that community housing providers and other
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  Speaker 4: states have done extremely well in this space. It's not
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  Speaker 4: an acknowledgement we have currently an old public housing system.
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  Speaker 4: This is about how we're smart and get reform.
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  Speaker 3: Of that old public housing system.
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  Speaker 4: As you would understand, Katie, in the territory forty years ago,
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  Speaker 4: these assets were new and they had government workers in them.
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  Speaker 4: Over time, a lot of those assets were sold. Certainly
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  Speaker 4: prior to our time in government, a lot of those
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  Speaker 4: assets were sold to the government workers that were in them,
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  Speaker 4: So we had a reduction in stock at that point,
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  Speaker 4: which did start to escalate the wait lists. This is
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  Speaker 4: the way that we know that we will work with
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  Speaker 4: very confident partners to leverage and get more social and
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  Speaker 4: affordable housing into the Northern Territory. I'm really confident of
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  Speaker 4: that over time, and they will deliver high quality and
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  Speaker 4: cost effective housing services.
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  Speaker 3: It makes sense. This is a smart way to go.
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  Speaker 3: It's just taken us a while to get there.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, there's organizations like Venture that were set
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  Speaker 4: up many years ago by the government to do justice work.
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  Speaker 3: We've never given them enough.
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  Speaker 4: We've also got Yearly Reung, an Aboriginal housing organization that's
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  Speaker 4: very confident in this space they have already provide high
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  Speaker 4: quality services.
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  Speaker 3: This is a leap of faith.
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  Speaker 4: It shows the trust that the government has got in
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  Speaker 4: those organizations to manage properties and this sets a pathway
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  Speaker 4: for us to do that over the next ten years.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Minister, it is.
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  Speaker 1: It is certainly going to be interesting to see how
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  Speaker 1: it all rolls out. And I think the main thing
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  Speaker 1: that people listening this morning will be thinking is hopefully
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  Speaker 1: it does mean that we're able to get people into
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  Speaker 1: homes who do need that public housing. But I want
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  Speaker 1: to ask you, I know that hundreds of people are
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  Speaker 1: estimated to have lost their homes. Community unrest descends into
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  Speaker 1: what's been described as lawlessness in what air.
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  Speaker 2: Over the last over the last few weeks.
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  Speaker 1: So we know that four hundred people are estimated to
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  Speaker 1: have lost those homes.
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  Speaker 2: Minister.
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  Speaker 1: I know that you're obviously you know you cover urban housing. However,
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  Speaker 1: this is there is no doubt that this is having
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  Speaker 1: a big impact on families and children in that community.
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  Speaker 1: It must be a real concern when those houses are
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  Speaker 1: damaged and people are left without homes.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, Katie, And to be honest, I do know
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  Speaker 4: that our stuff, so I share the Department with Minister
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  Speaker 4: Pike for who's the Minister for Remote But I am
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  Speaker 4: aware that our staff haven't been able to get on
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  Speaker 4: the ground yet.
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  Speaker 3: So while there.
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  Speaker 4: Are claims of hundreds of people and you know, loss
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  Speaker 4: of all those houses, we need to be able to
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  Speaker 4: get into the ground and assess those what needs to
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  Speaker 4: be done. It has been unsafe to do so, But
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  Speaker 4: my understanding is that our stuff are going to be
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  Speaker 4: able to get.
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  Speaker 3: Out there today.
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  Speaker 4: So without that proper assessment, I would be really reluctant
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  Speaker 4: to comment.
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  Speaker 3: But what I will say is what's.
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  Speaker 4: Happened there is it's clear from the vision to all
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  Speaker 4: of us that there is some criminal property damage that's happened,
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  Speaker 4: and those people also need to be held to account.
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  Speaker 3: So it is my absolute hope. Obviously that is a.
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  Speaker 4: Police matter, but it is my absolute hope that those
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  Speaker 4: people doing the damage will be held responsible.
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  Speaker 3: Whether they are here in an urban setting in what
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't matter. You know, this is what.
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  Speaker 4: We've seen online is totally unacceptable. It is affecting local
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  Speaker 4: families and that's a tragedy. Because I know that police
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  Speaker 4: are working collaboratively with the community and families out there
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  Speaker 4: that are not involved in the dispute and are being
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  Speaker 4: affected by people's really poor behavior.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, most residents of what I want this
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  Speaker 3: to stop.
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  Speaker 4: It's only a small cohort of people and it's my
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  Speaker 4: absolute hope that they will be held to account for
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  Speaker 4: criminal property damage.
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  Speaker 3: But we've got to job to.
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  Speaker 4: Do is to get out there and make sure homes
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  Speaker 4: are safe for people, and we need to be on
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  Speaker 4: the ground to do that.
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  Speaker 1: All right, So a team heading out there today to
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  Speaker 1: go and assess those properties, and no doubt, I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: that there will be you know, there'll be further work
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  Speaker 1: done by the Territory Police. I also want to go
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  Speaker 1: to the front page of the paper today. A preliminary
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  Speaker 1: report has been completed into a new three hundred million
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: dollar Doarwen Stadium, with a business case now set to
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  Speaker 1: be prepared. Minister, are we going to build a brand
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: new stadium in the city?
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  Speaker 3: So, Katie, that report's not quite true. We haven't got
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  Speaker 3: a preliminary report. I've been on the task force and
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  Speaker 3: leading the task force with Sean Bowden for a.
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  Speaker 4: Few months now. I think, you know, there's a lot
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  Speaker 4: of passion around footy, but it's actually putting the cart
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: before the horse in terms of that front page today,
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  Speaker 4: we are looking at what it's going.
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  Speaker 3: To take to build a territory club here. It's not
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: a territory team.
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  Speaker 4: It's a territory club for the Northern Territory because we
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: would need to have reserve sides, we'd need to have
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: women's sides.
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  Speaker 3: It's a real club that we're looking at.
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  Speaker 4: We have got a lot of experience on the Task
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  Speaker 4: Force and we are looking at the viability of that
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: now out of the work that we're doing.
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  Speaker 3: We're currently doing.
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  Speaker 4: A social impact state study and we need to know
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  Speaker 4: that in we need.
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  Speaker 3: To build a business case.
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  Speaker 4: Now, if it falls out of that business case that
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: we're required to have a stadium, then that's obviously something
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  Speaker 4: for us to look at. I think they're just putting
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  Speaker 4: the cart before the horse here.
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  Speaker 3: I think we're under.
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  Speaker 4: No illusions that it would be a requirement of the
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  Speaker 4: AFL for us to have a stadium at some point
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  Speaker 4: that has.
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  Speaker 3: A particular capacity.
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  Speaker 4: And if that turns into a stadium that we have,
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  Speaker 4: you know, a requirement for that, then you would need
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  Speaker 4: a further study about where that would need to be
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: and how we found have discussed it at the Task
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: Force that it would need to be a stadium that
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: was so much more than somewhere to play Yeah, AFL football.
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  Speaker 2: Well when we meet to have the money to be
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: the builder.
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  Speaker 3: To do before then, Katie, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And where would we get that money to build it?
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely so we would Those things would need to be
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: looked at further down the track. As I said, it's
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: cut before the horse. The task force is on is
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: very set in its purpose.
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  Speaker 3: We're there to see if it's viable in.
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  Speaker 4: An unconventional model to have a team based in the
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: There's a lot of passion for it, you know.
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  Speaker 4: Our young people coming through would definitely want to aspire
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: to that. I was speaking to some young players in
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: Alice Springs last a couple of weeks ago and they
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: absolutely would love to play for the Northern Territory and
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: be part of a territory club in the national competition.
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  Speaker 3: There's no doubt about that.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: But we're doing the work to understand fully what that
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: would take for us to make a bid for a
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: license in the AFL and with the AFL, should one
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: an opportunity be available.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: That's our task. We are not focused on building a stadium, but.
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: A stadium, you know, may be part of the picture
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: when we're finished with the business case.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Sounds like there's still plenty of work to go in
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: that space. Minister Minister for Sport, also for Urban Housing
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and various other portfolios. Kate Warden, we really appreciate your
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: time this morning.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Thank you, thanks for reaching out. Katie, thank you.