Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Somerville Community Services CEO Lawson Broad about whether Territorians can expect some rental and housing relief

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Katie spoke with Somerville Community Services CEO Lawson Broad about whether Territorians can expect some rental and housing relief · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me live in the studio.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: We know that the obviously the Minister for Housing had
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: made an announcement yesterday around well, a pretty significant announcement.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I think you'd have to say twenty one million dollars.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: I believe it is is going to be invested into
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: more social and affordable housing across Darwin, Palmerston, Catherine, Alice
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Springs and Tenant Creek. There's also going to be money
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: invested into an affordable housing rental subsidy program and other things.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: It's something that we've spoken in the past to Peter
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: McMillan from NT Shelter about on numerous occasions, but people
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: sort of going through that rental stress and finding it
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: hard to find somewhere to live. Now joining me in
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  Speaker 2: the studio from some of the community services I have
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  Speaker 2: got laws and Broad Good morning to you, Lawson, Thanks
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  Speaker 2: for having.
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  Speaker 1: Me, Thanks for coming in now. You and I had
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  Speaker 1: spoken a couple of months back.
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  Speaker 2: I reckon it was about some of the stress that
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Territorians were experiencing, you know, as a result I think
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: of COVID also as a result of there being a
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: really tough rental mark ash in the Northern Territory and
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  Speaker 2: people finding it really hard to find somewhere to live
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  Speaker 2: that was affordable. How are things going from some of
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Thll's perspective at the moment in that space.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think we're still seeing very expensive rents.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: But what we have seen, and this is seasonal happens
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: with the Northern Territory every year, is we are seeing
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: less into state visitors right now. There are more places
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: in the caravan parks and so forth. So that has
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  Speaker 3: relieved some stress in terms of that emergency accommodation where
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  Speaker 3: we have to house people in caravan parks and other places.
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  Speaker 3: Very expensive way, but when people are in an emergency,
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  Speaker 3: that's what's required. We were struggling at the time just
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  Speaker 3: to get people in places. So we're seeing a bit
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  Speaker 3: more availability there. Rents in Darwin are still very expensive, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I know. We hear that ditally quite often that it
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: is still an expensive place to find somewhere to rent.
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  Speaker 2: We've even spoken to people who've said that their rent's
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  Speaker 2: gone up an enormous amount for exactly the same place.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, nothing sort of nothing changing a huge
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  Speaker 2: amount aside from the rental market just sort of getting
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: more expensive and there being less places available.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. It's a small market and as soon as
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  Speaker 3: we get an influx of people here, the market responds.
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  Speaker 3: I described it as profit hearing. I don't think it's necessary,
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  Speaker 3: but when there's really strong demand from the market, landlords
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  Speaker 3: who hold investment properties want to see those perform well
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: and they ratchet rents up. But you're right, we were
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: seeing rents go up two hundred dollars a week for
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  Speaker 3: the same property. That's really challenging and we have seen
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  Speaker 3: people leave the territory as a result. They just can't
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  Speaker 3: do it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Also through Somerville, how often are people coming to
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  Speaker 2: seek sort of assistance that are really struggling at the
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: moment as maybe as a result of COVID over the
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: last couple of years. But are you seeing a large
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  Speaker 2: volume and does that increase as you get closer to Christmas?
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  Speaker 3: Are we seeing a large volume? It's daily We're seeing
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  Speaker 3: people come in who for a whole variety of circumstances
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  Speaker 3: don't have housing. Very often we're putting them up into
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  Speaker 3: shelters or short term accommodation. That's expensive, that's not sustainable
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  Speaker 3: in terms of COVID. I think in Catherine at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: people are really struggling because when the community is locked down,
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  Speaker 3: visitors to town can't leave and they're in town, we're
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: only there with the intent of staying for a short
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: while with family or elsewhere, and then they're stuck and
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  Speaker 3: so everything's everything's tied up. You've got a large number
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  Speaker 3: of people living in houses and no options. I think
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  Speaker 3: for a long time a visitor park in Catherine has
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  Speaker 3: been talked about. We haven't seen anything concrete on that
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  Speaker 3: front yet. It would be great to see some attention
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  Speaker 3: paid to that need.
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  Speaker 2: He Yesterday, obviously, the Northern Territory Government made this announcement
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  Speaker 2: that they're set to invest twenty one million dollars into
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  Speaker 2: more social and affordable housing across Darwin, Palmerston, Catherine, Alice
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  Speaker 2: Springs and Tenant Creek. Money is also going to be
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: invested on an affordable housing rental subsidy program. There's going
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: to be an investment into building additional affordable housing units
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  Speaker 2: as well in Palmerston and Catherine, and there will be
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  Speaker 2: the release of the first land packages for community housing
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  Speaker 2: projects as well as additional land packages for specialist disability accommodation.
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  Speaker 2: Now from I can gather from what the Minister had
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  Speaker 2: said earlier this morning. The first seven million dollars of
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  Speaker 2: this spend is going to be rolled out immediately with
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  Speaker 2: Venture Housing to supply forty one affordable homes across the
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  Speaker 2: Northern territory. How important is this and how far will
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  Speaker 2: it go?
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  Speaker 3: So this is a really encouraging announcement. I think the
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  Speaker 3: last time that we spoke, I was pretty clear in
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  Speaker 3: my frustration that we had seen a lot of talk
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  Speaker 3: for a long time and not a lot of action.
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  Speaker 3: Was pretty clear in my call to say, we just
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  Speaker 3: need to see we just need to see action, and
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  Speaker 3: we are seeing action. It's a fantastic it's a fantastic result.
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  Speaker 3: I think the really important part of this to me
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  Speaker 3: is that for a long time we haven't seen a
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  Speaker 3: lot of investment in urban housing. It's in my experience,
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  Speaker 3: it's very challenging for a housing minister and a housing
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  Speaker 3: department to get their voice heard in cabinet, particularly through
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  Speaker 3: the budget. What this says to me is that the
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  Speaker 3: Minister is getting her voice her that these needs are
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  Speaker 3: being taken seriously, and it's my understanding that these initiatives
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  Speaker 3: have the Chief Minister's personal support. That's that's really encouraging
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  Speaker 3: for me to hear in terms of these initiatives, some
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  Speaker 3: of them look really quite quite creative. It's good to
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  Speaker 3: see new options happening there. Whatever the impact is, it's
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  Speaker 3: it's going to be positive. It's going to have an
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  Speaker 3: impact on the market as a whole. It's my understanding
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  Speaker 3: also that this is the first of a number of
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  Speaker 3: announcements to come. I think we'll see I think we'll
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  Speaker 3: see some significant money announced in the new year. Also,
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  Speaker 3: I don't have any detail around that, but certainly I'm
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  Speaker 3: looking forward to hearing about it.
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  Speaker 2: From your perspective, you know, as the person that is
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  Speaker 2: running some of your community services, who has people come in,
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  Speaker 2: like you'd said, every day who are facing real hardship.
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  Speaker 2: How important is it that we do invest into things
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  Speaker 2: like social and affordable housing and trying to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that you know that that people have got somewhere to live.
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  Speaker 2: And very often we're actually talking about people who you know,
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  Speaker 2: who have got jobs and they're they're working incredibly hard,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, their pay is not quite getting them
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  Speaker 2: to the point where they're able to actually buy their
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  Speaker 2: own home or they're able to you know, to comfortably
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  Speaker 2: pay their rent and also feed their families.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think the important thing here is having
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  Speaker 3: is having options. It's not a one size or it's
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  Speaker 3: not a one size fits all solutions. So it's great
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  Speaker 3: to see a range of different initiatives being supported through this.
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  Speaker 3: The people that we're seeing are often in crisis. We
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  Speaker 3: are very often seeing people mums attempting to escape domestic violence.
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  Speaker 3: So we know that when someone gets to that point,
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  Speaker 3: that's the most dangerous place for them to be trying
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  Speaker 3: to step away from the home and to a place
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  Speaker 3: of safety. So there's a significant amount of money they're
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  Speaker 3: associated with the Domestic Family Violence Center to be run
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  Speaker 3: by the Salvation Army in Palmerston. And again it's my
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  Speaker 3: understanding that the Chief Minister has identified two really clear priorities.
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  Speaker 3: One of those is domestic violence and the other is
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  Speaker 3: affordable housing. So great to see that'll have a really
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: big impact for the people presenting to us in terms
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  Speaker 3: of other options. Really interested to see how those micro
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  Speaker 3: apartments come together. It looks like that will be a
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  Speaker 3: really affordable option for people who don't need a big
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: place to live, they just need somewhere to live.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it will be interesting to see how they go.
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  Speaker 2: It's not something that I've sort of seen happen here
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  Speaker 2: in the territory before the micro apartments.
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  Speaker 3: No, it does happen elsewhere, quite successful elsewhere, and as
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  Speaker 3: I say, really really interesting to see how it'll come
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  Speaker 3: together Lawson.
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  Speaker 2: As we get closer to Christmas, I would imagine that
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  Speaker 2: some of ill does become quite busy.
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  Speaker 1: I know that that is just an assumption. Is that
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  Speaker 1: the case.
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  Speaker 2: Do you expect that there's more people going to come
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  Speaker 2: to you guys looking for support?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, We've got a lot of additional people in
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  Speaker 3: town who don't have their usual support networks around them.
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  Speaker 3: And again it's a really sad story, but people who
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: are attempting to escape domestic violence. This is often a
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  Speaker 3: peak period in terms of those types of incidents. Some
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  Speaker 3: of it was very fortunate as part of a national
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  Speaker 3: consortium to be funded for an Escaping Family of Escaping
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  Speaker 3: Violence payment, so that provides up to five thousand dollars
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  Speaker 3: for an individual to escape their unsafe environment. That is
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  Speaker 3: just a fantastic initiative and where we're being overwhelmed with
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  Speaker 3: demand for that right now.
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  Speaker 2: Ah.
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  Speaker 3: So that's about finding safe accommodation for people, that's about
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  Speaker 3: helping them to move into state back to family where
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  Speaker 3: they have a support network as a commonwealth initiative and
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  Speaker 3: really exciting.
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  Speaker 2: So five thousand dollars and they obviously, you know, there
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  Speaker 2: might be people listening this morning who are in a
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  Speaker 2: really difficult situation. A woman may be listening this morning
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  Speaker 2: who is thinking, how do I escape the situation that
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  Speaker 2: I'm currently in? Is there a way for people to
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  Speaker 2: get in contact with Somerville? Is it something that's quite
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  Speaker 2: simple for them to do in terms of coming in
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  Speaker 2: and speaking to you guys.
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  Speaker 3: Very simple process and people can come and see us directly,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: or they can be referred by another local domestic violent
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  Speaker 3: shelter or other provider. We often there are just essential
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  Speaker 3: items that people need to purchase to set up a house.
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  Speaker 3: Whether it's a fridge, whether it's a plane ticket, whether
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: it's a rental bond. All of those things help because
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  Speaker 3: very often people are trapped because they simply don't have
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  Speaker 3: the resources to escape in a safe way.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, what a tragic situation that some people are in.
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  Speaker 2: And I know, well, I don't know, but it must
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  Speaker 2: be so difficult for them to then try to get
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  Speaker 2: out of those situations. Is there if there are people
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: listening this morning who maybe want a little bit more
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: information about the stuff that some of ill does.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: They can head to your website, can't.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and all our contact details are there, ye called directly.
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  Speaker 3: We've got an office at the corner of vandal And
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  Speaker 3: Drive and Lee Point Road and another for Sin Victoria
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  Speaker 3: Drive in Palmerston or Catherine.
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  Speaker 2: And if there's somebody listening this morning who thinks that
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  Speaker 2: is wonderful work that Somerville is doing, I'd like to
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  Speaker 2: donate to them. Is that something that they can do
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: as well?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and we would welcome every donation. So I want
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: to be clear around that that every single dollar that
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: people donate towards us goes towards emergency assistance. There's not
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: a dollar that gets kept by us for any type
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: of overheads. It goes into a discrete pool of funding
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  Speaker 3: and it ends up being a direct payment to people
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: who need emergency support.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the awesome broad sea of Somerville community services here
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  Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory always appreciate your time. Thank you
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: very much for coming in this morning.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Goods Katie, Thank you