Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Shelter Executive Officer Peter McMillan says there's no proper plan in place to fix the NT's public housing crisis

Transcript

NT Shelter Executive Officer Peter McMillan says there's no proper plan in place to fix the NT's public housing crisis · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now. A bit earlier this morning, we were talking to
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the Shadow Minister for Housing, Bill Yam, because we learned
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: yesterday during instruments that some public housing weightlists have blown
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: out up to ten years apparently for units. The weightlists
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: probably aren't a huge surprise though, to my next guest,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: who's joined me on the show previously to talk about
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: this very topic, it is Peter McMillan, the CEO or
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the executive officer I should say, of NT Shelter.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Peter, Good morning Katie.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: How are you not too bad? Peter? As I say,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I reckon, these weightlists are probably not a huge surprise
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to you. It's something you've been concerned about for an
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: awfully long time.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately not Katie. You know, these numbers are an absolute shocker.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: We're now up to basically five six thousand people rather
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: on the weight list, which is three times a number
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: we had back in two thousand. So what we've really
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: seen over the last twenty odd years is stock completely
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: being sold off or knocked down, all repurposed. We used
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: to have over nine thousand urban public housing assets back
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: in ninety three, and today we've got in terms of
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: government owned buildings that they control just around five thousand,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: so it's a twenty nine percent reduction in stock. So
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: a little wonder I think that we've seen homelesses continue
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: to rise and wait lists continue to rise. I mean,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: we used to have just two thousand applications on the
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: public housing weightlists back in ne year two thousand and
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: now it's it's six thousand. It's balloooning, completely out of control.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: It So it really is a growing crisis that has
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: no end insight and it's completely got away.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: And I think the tough thing at the moment is that,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you know, quite often when people think of public housing,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: they you know, I don't know exactly what they think
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: in terms of who may need public housing. But we've
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: got inflation rising dramatically, We've got the cost you know,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: like the cost of living across so many different areas
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: is rising so dramatically that I think that there's potentially
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: more territories on the cusp of actually needing public housing
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and actually needing support them.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: What a lot of us realize, you know, it's hurting
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: a lot of Australians at the moment, but it's hurting
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory territorians are particularly hard. Each year. For the
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: last ten years, we've seen a number of people that
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: present for help from our member organizations grow by four percent.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: In the last twelve months there's been a four and
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: a half percent increase, and nationally that number has been
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: pretty stagnant. Some states have seen a decline. We're on
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the up and up here and we simply don't have
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: anywhere enough housing four people who need permanent housing. It's
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: been a long standing problem and there hasn't been a
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: plan really to address that. We hear about announcements where
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: there might be ten houses here or five houses there.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: I mean any additional house Katie is welcome, of course,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: can make a difference to a family, but we talk
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: him at hundreds and thousands of houses we need and encouragingly,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the new Housing and Homelessess Minister, Minister Llans has confirmed
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: that the new government will develop a national Housing and
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Homeless of strategy. I mean, the need for that can't
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: be underestimated, can't be overstated, is a huge need. I mean, really,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: the situation is like watching a ship that's drifting off
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: further out and a tide and getting further and further
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: away from us without a plan as to how we're
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: going to salvage it, and the further it gets away
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: from us, the more expensive it's going to be to
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: tackle it.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well this is the thing. You've got to see
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: some action in this space. But it's pretty unbelievable to think,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: you know that we're now in twenty twenty two and
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: public housing stocks have reduced, you know, twenty nine percent
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: on what they were around around the year two thousand. Yes,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: you know, the demand is increasing and I think that
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: as well, Peter. You know, I've spoken before about you know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: about the need for housing too when it comes to
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: people moving to the Northern Territory for work and people
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: looking for rental properties, the cost of rent going up.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: So even when you step away from that public housing
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: situation and look more at our workforce shortage and the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: impact that it could have.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Then absolutely it's really dire with such a huge lift
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: in the cost of living almost overnight, with inflation now
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: upon us, with rising prices for petrol at the bows,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: or with rising fuel costs and other costs for individuals,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: for families that we're already doing it tough, it really
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: is a terrible situation also for homeowners, for that matter,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: that those who are trying to pay off a mortgage
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: with rising interest rates and levels of debt, that's also
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: a group that can potentially be vulnerable. So there are
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of Australians in a range of situations. They
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: are not all people that we see sleeping rough They
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: can be people that are sleeping in a caravan park,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: or in a neighbor's house, or in a tent or
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: in a car. There's a range of situations and all
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: we're really calling for is to get a plan. Get
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: a plan for our urban areas because we're watching it
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: blow out. I mean, I've been on this program with
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Ukadie before we talked about this as a growing problem.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: It's showing those signs of abating and little wonder until
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: we get a plan that's really owned by the territory
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: government in conjunction with the federal government and other partners
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: who can bring money to the table to get houses
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: built that we need. I mean, we're not even having
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: the conversations yet around what our communities look like and
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: how public housing will be built and done better because
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: we haven't even got a plan to meet the gap,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: which the NT government itself says is ten thousand to
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: twelve thousand houses, So what is the plan? You can
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: identify the problem. You need to have a plan or
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: it's not going to happen.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: And so then we've also had a situation obviously where
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: our Minister for Housing has changed was Kate Warden. It's
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: now moved on to I believe Selena Rubo's portfolio of
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: you had the opportunity to meet with her and you know,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: talk about some of this.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: I'm really looking forward to meeting with Selena Ubo tomorrow morning.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: And we do have a new Chief Minister as well
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: and a new Federal minister, so we are always encouraged
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: when there's I guess a change in brigade. We really
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: enjoyed working with Minster Warden and she really did kick
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: along the community housing strategy, which was very positive. But
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: that's not going to deliver houses at the scale that
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: we need anytime soon. So we need a plan for
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: our urban communities and until we get that, we're just
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: going to continue to see a rise and rise and
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: rise in numbers on these lists. And these are all
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: families that are waiting, as you point out, up to
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: ten years for a house. Just not good enough.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: No, it's an awfully, awfully long time and it will
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: mean you know, ultimately that if people can't find those times,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: we will probably lose them from the territory. So it's
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: a tough one.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: It is tough, and we need to be creative with solutions.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: And at the moment down in Ola Springs, we're seeing
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: services that are having a big rise in people coming
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: forward because of cold weather. And there are currently sixty
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: seven vacant properties down in our springs, sixty seven public
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: housing properties that are sitting empty while people are out
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: in the river beds without enough blankets and clothing. It's
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: just disgraceful. A South Australia they have a code Blue
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: where they bring people inside when it gets to five
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: degrees or less over a number of nights. We have
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: nothing like that in the Northern territory. So even if
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: we don't have enough permanent housing, we need to think
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: about people who are homeless and waiting for housing to
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: put them in a safe position.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Peter, what do you reckon it is that some of
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: these public housing, you know, these homes that are sitting
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: waiting for repairs, are waiting astronomical periods of time.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: In some cases, it's a it's a culture that's continued
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: to grow over the last twenty years. So back around
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: the turn of the century, the Department of Housing was
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: able to turn around vacant properties around thirty days to
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: forty days. That's what the data shows they could do that,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: and it's just steadily blown out to one hundred and
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: thirty days now on average. And I know there can
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: be challenges with getting trade sometimes and there's a lot
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: of work going on. I get that, but they could
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: do it before and with a bit more will and
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: effort and urgency and focus, they should be able to
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: get that down. They have got a target of seventy
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: five days, which they're nowhere near achieving at the moment.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: And we've got to remember for people who are working
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: in that area what it actually means. As a family
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: that's waiting another couple of months, three months for a
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: place to get the keys of our home, it's simply
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I couldn't have Well.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Peter McMillan, I always appreciate your time, always appreciate you
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: coming in and having a chat to us. The Northern
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Territory or NT Shelter Executive Officer, thank you so much
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: for speaking with me today, thank you Katie