Louise Harrington has now commenced as our Homelessness Policy Officer. She works part-time - mostly - on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
NT Shelter receives part time funding for this position from the NT Dept of Health and Families (Family and Children's Services) in recognition of our role as the peak homelessness body for the NT.
Louise's contact details are:
Darwin Office
10/21 Cavenagh Street Darwin
PO Box 1577 Nightcliff NT 0814
Phone (08)89815003
Fax (08) 89819006
Mob 0428 820 944
Homelessness
This page includes information on;
- NT Rates of Homelessness
- NT Homelessness Implementation Plan 2009
- NT Homelessness Summit 2009
The Northern Territory has the highest rate of homelessness in Australia with a rate of 272 per 10,000 people compared to the national rate of 53 per 10,000. The 2006 ‘Counting the Homeless Report’ noted the Top End region which includes; Darwin(276) Palmerston (75) and Litchfield (302) had an average rate of homelessness of 238 per 10,000 equating to approximately 2478 persons. The NT remainder includes Katherine (507 p/10,000 or 415 people) Tennant Creek (147 p/10,000 or 43 poeple) Alice Springs (187 p/10,000 or 446 people) and remote areas (281 p/10,000 or 1403 people). A full copy of the Report from the 2006 Census including its definition of homelessness is available here.
On 21 July 2010, the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare issued the Demand for accommodation from government-funded specialist homelessness services 2008-09 report. The report found that the supported accommodation system in the NT is operating to capacity; and that supported accommodation in the NT has a much higher turnover than in other juridictions.
FaHCSIA has now released Consultation Reports from the first stage of consultations on the National Quality Framework. This will guide the development of a more detailed options paper that will be released for comment later in 2010.
The NT Government adopted its Homelessness Implementation Plan as part of the National Partnership Agreement with the Australian Government in September 2009. The Plan is now being implemented and an an update on progress is now available.
Also a recent report by Louise Weber and funded by Homelessness Australia - 'A look at where the NT is positioned to achieve the objectives of the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness- 15 months after the release of the Federal Government's White Paper- 'The Road Home'. March 2010
The NT Homelessness Summit was held in Darwin in November last year. The Feedback Report was released in March 2010 and is now available for download. NT Shelter is continuing to work with the Department of Health and Families and Department of Housing, Local Government and Regional Services to further develop the Action Plan from the report.
