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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Shelter Executive Officer Peter McMillan · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But this week is actually Homelessness Week and it is
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  Speaker 1: all aimed at shining the spotlight on the territory's urgent
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  Speaker 1: need for more housing and joining us in the studio
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  Speaker 1: right now, Executive Officer Peter McMillan of NT Shelter. Good
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  Speaker 1: morning to you, Peter.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Now you and I have spoken a bit over the
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  Speaker 1: last few months, and I've got to say I think
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  Speaker 1: that it's important that we do because we've had quite
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  Speaker 1: a few people get in contact with us here at
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  Speaker 1: the station about issues with not being able to find
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  Speaker 1: a home. And when you talk about homelessness, I think
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  Speaker 1: that it's impacting more territorians and much more broadly than
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  Speaker 1: what a lot of people realize.
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  Speaker 2: It certainly is, Katie, and I mean, when we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about homelessness, it's not just people we might see sleeping
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  Speaker 2: rough sleeping out by the casurin a foreshore in the city.
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  Speaker 2: There are people that are couch surfing, sleeping in caravan parks,
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  Speaker 2: rough sleeping certainly, and in temporary accommodation or emergency shelter.
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  Speaker 2: And unfortunately, when we look back to two thousand and eight,
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  Speaker 2: we had a plan and there was a strategy then
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  Speaker 2: called the Road Home and that committed governments to essentially
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  Speaker 2: hit a target by twenty twenty of halving the number
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  Speaker 2: of homelessness people and providing a combination option for rough
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  Speaker 2: sleepers for every rough sleeper. And we know where near that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we've seen fourteen percent rise in homelessness nationally
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  Speaker 2: since our census in twenty eleven. You know, we think
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be higher again in twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 2: What's different is we had a vision back in two
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  Speaker 2: thousand and eight, we had a gold go after and
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  Speaker 2: what we don't have at the moment nationally is we
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  Speaker 2: don't have a plan. And you know, your listeners will
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  Speaker 2: know if you don't have a plan, you're planning to fail.
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  Speaker 2: And that's exactly what we're doing on homelessness.
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  Speaker 1: And do we have any idea how many Territorians right
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  Speaker 1: now are facing homelessness.
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  Speaker 2: It's tough to get the exact number on that, of course,
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  Speaker 2: it's very very difficult. A lot of people will be
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  Speaker 2: in rental stress. And in the Darwin market, we know
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  Speaker 2: that house prices for rent have gone up twenty one
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  Speaker 2: percent and there's only point four percent vacancy, so there's
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  Speaker 2: very you if any house is to rent at all,
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  Speaker 2: let alone for those who are struggling to make ends
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  Speaker 2: meet or at the affordable end of the market, So
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  Speaker 2: we simply don't have a significant amount of stock at
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  Speaker 2: any price point. Certainly got problems this week around homelessness,
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  Speaker 2: and I guess the focus is to create awareness on
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  Speaker 2: homelessness and what we can do to address it. We
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  Speaker 2: do need the federal government to have a national plan.
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  Speaker 2: Then there was a report released yesterday by a parliamentary
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  Speaker 2: inquiry that recommended the establishment of a national plan because
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  Speaker 2: there is an important role of leadership by the Commonwealth,
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  Speaker 2: but also the states and territories need to get on board.
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  Speaker 2: Right they are currently putting in expected to put money
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  Speaker 2: into housing provisions, so building more social and affordable housing.
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  Speaker 2: We're not seeing that here in the territory in our
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  Speaker 2: urban communities. I mean, might hear announcement every now and
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  Speaker 2: again have twenty million dollars for stimulus or for new housing,
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  Speaker 2: which is always welcome, but it's not even replacing the
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  Speaker 2: houses that are knocked down or sold. So we're not
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  Speaker 2: getting anywhere on that.
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  Speaker 1: And you and I've spoken about this before. We know
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  Speaker 1: that it's you know that it's not just about the
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  Speaker 1: public housing. It's about affordable housing as well, but it's
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  Speaker 1: also about sort of professionals being able to find housing
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  Speaker 1: if we want to try to boost the population in
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  Speaker 1: the territory.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a story that's playing out in a lot
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  Speaker 2: of regions and the Dalwin markets really are regional markets.
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  Speaker 2: What's interesting up here is fifty percent of territories and renters.
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  Speaker 2: And if you think, if you think about our family
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  Speaker 2: down in Melbourne for example, that might be looking to
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  Speaker 2: come up here for work. They've got their kids at school.
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  Speaker 2: Why would they want to take the risk of giving
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  Speaker 2: that all up, put backing the bags, moving the car
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  Speaker 2: up and haven't got a house. I mean, it's just
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  Speaker 2: not going to happen. So I'm really concerned this is
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  Speaker 2: holding us back.
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  Speaker 1: What do we need to see here in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: Like if you had a bit of a wish list,
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  Speaker 1: what would happen in the territory over the next few years.
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  Speaker 2: It was a few easy wins. The first thing we
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  Speaker 2: should do is get a decent share of homeless is
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  Speaker 2: funding national funding and we've got only one point five
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  Speaker 2: percent of the total funding, although we have one point
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  Speaker 2: three percent of the population. I've just got have you
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  Speaker 2: got any water caves about? I'll try to get you
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  Speaker 2: some water. I've just got to try this sort of thing.
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  Speaker 2: But no, no, sorry about that. So we've got nineteen
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  Speaker 2: million dollars that we get each year from the federal
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  Speaker 2: government out of one point six billion dollars, and stateside
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  Speaker 2: Western Australia that have half the number of homeless people
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  Speaker 2: that we do get twice as much money, and so
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  Speaker 2: or more than twice much money, actually quite a bit more.
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  Speaker 2: So getting our fair share is important, and that is
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  Speaker 2: one of the things that was recommended yesterday again that
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  Speaker 2: funding should be based on needs. So that's one of
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  Speaker 2: the things that we can Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Peter, we are just trying to or I'm trying to
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  Speaker 1: find my producer to try and find just some water.
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  Speaker 2: It's always you never want to come on radio and
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  Speaker 2: have a hiccups or or five in your throats.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it happens to me. Usually happens to me
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  Speaker 1: just after eleven o'clock most days, and I get a
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  Speaker 1: cough and I can't stop it. So hopefully Max is
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  Speaker 1: listening out there and finds you some water.
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  Speaker 2: That's all good and sorry, I should have continued sort of.
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  Speaker 2: The thing that I was going to say as well
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  Speaker 2: is things like getting Commonwealth's ren assistance. That's money that
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  Speaker 2: territory is not grabbing that's available. If we can grow
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  Speaker 2: our community housing sector, that's an easy win. I know
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  Speaker 2: the Urban Minister, Urban Housing Minister Kate Warden wants to
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  Speaker 2: do some significant work in that space. That's that's encouraging,
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  Speaker 2: but it's not going to be enough. So we do
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  Speaker 2: need to have a conversation around what are we trying
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  Speaker 2: to achieve in the territory with growing our economy. We
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  Speaker 2: want a forty billion dollar economy of twenty thirty. I'm
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  Speaker 2: very concerned that we're not going to have the housing
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  Speaker 2: for the future population, let alone existing population. And if
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  Speaker 2: people Katie can't find a place to rent, and we're
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  Speaker 2: hearing many, many stories of this, people that simply find
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  Speaker 2: nothing that's affordable. Landlords have increased the rents by a
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  Speaker 2: twenty five percent or more in some cases because they
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  Speaker 2: can because there's just no other stock. You've got a
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  Speaker 2: tough choice to make, you know, can I afford that
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  Speaker 2: or do I need to move south?
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  Speaker 1: And this is what we have been hearing, and we
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  Speaker 1: heard a bit of this. Throughout last week. We had
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  Speaker 1: a couple of people call and get in contact with
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  Speaker 1: us to say just that, to essentially say that you
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  Speaker 1: know that they were in a situation with it proper,
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  Speaker 1: that they were living in the rental that they were
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  Speaker 1: living in had been sold, they were having to move out,
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  Speaker 1: having to find somewhere else to live, but then actually
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  Speaker 1: going through the process of being able to find somewhere else. Firstly,
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  Speaker 1: the rental price had been astronomical, and secondly, so many
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  Speaker 1: others applying for it that it's really hard to actually
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  Speaker 1: win one.
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  Speaker 2: I wouldn't want to be a rental right now. To
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  Speaker 2: be honest, you have to hope you've got a good landlord,
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  Speaker 2: a reasonable landlord. The sure prices are going to go up,
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  Speaker 2: but let's make it reasonable. Let's not be greedy and
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  Speaker 2: us for thirty percent, especially from people who have been
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  Speaker 2: living in their property for four years. I've been good tenants.
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  Speaker 2: It's just ridiculous to treat people like that. And we
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  Speaker 2: just need to ask ourselves what are we trying to achieve.
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  Speaker 2: We wanted to grow to population. That'll bring us in
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  Speaker 2: GST revenue, It'll bring in new business jobs and population
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  Speaker 2: growth again, I think the key thing is we just
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  Speaker 2: don't have a plan for housing in our urban communities.
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  Speaker 2: And while it's great, we're spending some money in the
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  Speaker 2: remote regions, and that's desperately important. If we don't have
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  Speaker 2: an urban plan, we're going to go no where, We're
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  Speaker 2: going nowhere at the moment. In fact, we're going backwards. Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Peter, I always appreciate you coming in and
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  Speaker 1: having a chat to us about this, because, as I say,
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  Speaker 1: I actually think that the situation with homelessness and you know,
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  Speaker 1: people being unable to find somewhere to live, is much
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  Speaker 1: broader than a lot of Territorians realize at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Particularly if you're somebody who is lucky enough to own
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  Speaker 1: your own home, you might not realize the stress that
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  Speaker 1: others are under right now when it comes to having somewhere.
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  Speaker 2: To live exactly. And I think if you're out there
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  Speaker 2: listening and you think, well, why is homeless is important
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  Speaker 2: to me? The reality is that homelessess has many different
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  Speaker 2: shapes and forms, and we know there are a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people that flee domestic family violence and homeless in
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  Speaker 2: need housing. We need housing first. We need to give
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  Speaker 2: them the housing and then the supports that they need.
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  Speaker 2: We know that there are also lots of people, especially
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  Speaker 2: older women, that may have had a relationship breakdown and
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  Speaker 2: they don't have enough superinnovation or assets or cash to
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  Speaker 2: afford rent in these conditions. So it really is a
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  Speaker 2: challenging plan. There are a lot of smart people out
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  Speaker 2: there who have solutions and have ideas, and we need
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  Speaker 2: to find the cash at the end of the day
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  Speaker 2: that's going to go into new housing. We know we
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  Speaker 2: need the housing. Nobody's disputing that. The Commonwealth goverment at
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  Speaker 2: the moment is saying it's not their job to do that.
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  Speaker 2: The federal opposition saying, well, that's not actually right. We
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  Speaker 2: can do something federally, but the territory government needs to
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  Speaker 2: also be at the plate. And when they say, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: they don't have money to invest in housing because of
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  Speaker 2: a fiscal situation, they need put it to you this way,
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  Speaker 2: that's a furfe because they're already spending that amount of
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  Speaker 2: money or more on the health system, on the cost
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  Speaker 2: of homelessness, mental health, drug and alcohol addiction. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: we do have a code yellow out at RDH. I'd
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  Speaker 2: be very surprised if that wasn't driven in part by
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people that shouldn't have to be there
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  Speaker 2: if they were properly housed and had healthy lives.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Peter McMillan, it is always really good to
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  Speaker 1: catch up with you. I really appreciate your time, Executive
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  Speaker 1: Officer of NT Shelter, Thanks so much.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for the water too. Thank you.