DRIVING ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY CONTROL IN HOUSING

Presentation to National Housing Conference

APO NT Louise Weber - AHNT Barbara Shaw & Matthew Ryan

Who are APO NT?

• Established in October 2010 (post ‘the Intervention’)

• Alliance is 5 peak Aboriginal orgs in NT

• Each is governed by an Aboriginal board

• APONT alliance works for Indigenous people across NT

• APO NT alliance is underpinned by effective Aboriginal

involvement and control and evidence

APO NT Work & Partnership Principles

APO NT work includes hosting landmark forums• Strong Aboriginal Governance Summit – Tennant Creek• Grog in the Territory Summit – Alice Springs• Aboriginal Remote Housing Forum - Darwin• CDP Service Providers Forum – Darwin• FASD Forum • Housing Forum ‘mark 2’

Key program developments from Forums:

• Set up two key program areas:• Governance - AGMP Program • Housing - AHNT Committee • CDP Alternative - Remote Development & Employment

Scheme• Established APO NT Partnership Principles

Capacity 1. Consider their own capacity2. Recognise existing capacity3. Research existing options

Partnerships 4. Seek partnerships5. Approach to partnership

Aboriginal-led

development

6. Recognise, support and promote existing development practice7. Work together with Aboriginal people to create strong and viable

Aboriginal organisations

Control 8. Ensure Aboriginal control, not just consultation9. Develop a clear exit strategy

Evaluation and

accountability

10. Ensure robust evaluation and accountability

11. Cultural competency and appropriate development practice

APO NT Partnership Principles

Partnership Principles: Key messages

• Effective Aboriginal organisations are vital

• Consideration must be given to local community priorities and outcomes

• When seeking free and informed consent, you have the responsibility and are obliged to provide all the information

• Acknowledge the need for extended time frames that suit and respect community processes

• The APO NT principles attempt to frame the relationship - an enabling tool - not a set of rules

Demographics, data, and dire need

•80% of the NT Aboriginal people reside in remote or very remote areas

•85% of Aboriginal people in the NT live in severely overcrowded dwellings

•Overcrowding is rife in Town Camps and not limited to regional or remote communities

• Some Homelands also experience overcrowding

•NT has the nation’s highest rate of homelessness – 15 times the national average

•Does not include hidden homeless

Demographics, data, and dire need

•Next 25 years, NT Aboriginal pop’n set to increase by 34,000 people (from 74,000 in 2016 to 108,000 in 2041)

• Estimated 4000 additional dwellings were needed in 2007 to house current NT Aboriginal pop’n, with 400 additional houses needed yearly till 2027, to keep up with growth

•At June 2017, NPARIH (NT) had provided 1,504 New Builds (of 3,233 nation) 2,929 refurbs/rebuilds (of 7,350 nation)

•NTG figures show remote public houses reduced from 5046 in 2016 to 5036 in 2017

AHNT - APO NT Submissions, Articles Current 2017Sept 2017June 2017

Drafting APO NT - AHNT Aboriginal Housing Strategy – the Road Map forwardMedia Release – APO NT calls for Review of Remote Rental Policy amidst chaotic system failuresHousing chapter - in joint submission to NT Royal Commission on Child Protection and Detention

May 2017 NACCHO paper presented to Federal Opposition

May 2017 Abstract to National Housing Conference

May 2017 Submission to National Mental Health Commission on Housing, Homelessness & Mental Health

April 2017 Aged Pension Roundtable – APO NT lower the pension age to acknowledge gap in life expectancy

March 2017 UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – visit to town Camps and briefing report

Feb 2017 Opinion piece ‘The Gap grows wider for remote communities struggling with severe overcrowding’, co-written with Human Rights Law Centre; published in SMH, Canberra Times, Brisbane Times

Feb 2017 Submission to NTG for 2nd Aboriginal Housing Forum

January 2017 Submission to NPARIH/ Remote Housing Review

November 2016 Joint APO NT and Human Rights Law Centre preliminary submission, to the NT Royal Commission on Child Protection and Youth Detention, on housing as a determinant of Aboriginal justice

ABORIGINAL HOUSING NT

NT Remote Housing Forum 2015

Social Housing

5025 houses in remote areas – an estimated 34,000 people

4947 in regional and urban areas - an estimated 11,000 people

Homelessness

Nation’s highest - includes many people living in overcrowded and severely overcrowded dwellings,

85% in remote areas of the NT

52% of the NT homeless population are aged under 25 (52 per cent).

Overcrowding impacts profoundly on health, safety and justice outcomes

NT highest rate of chronic disease, kidney disease, family violence, imprisonment

The # 1 reason children taken into care = poor housing (housing is cited #1 reason for ‘neglect’)

The #1 reason children are not returned to families = inadequate housing

Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory (AHNT)

AHNT Goals

• Provide a strong Aboriginal voice on housing issues

• Develop an NT Aboriginal community controlled housing model

• Explore innovative & effective housing management models that meet unique housing needs of communities homelands

• Undertake research & policy development

• Pursue implementation of new housing arrangements

• Develop networks & alliances with community leaders & housing experts

Alice Springs Town Camps Barbara Shaw (Co-Chair),

Shirleen Campbell; Maxine Carlton

Maningrida Matthew Ryan (Co-Chair)

Tennant Creek Ross Williams

Elliott Chris Neade

Borroloola and Robinson River Tony Jack

Beswick Samuel Bush-Blanasi

Katherine Graham Castine; Rick Fletcher

Yarralin Brian Pedwell

Peppimenarti Annunciata Williams

Wadeye Tobias Nganbe

Anindilyakwa Tony Wurramarrba

Tiwi Islands David Guy

Yirrkala Homelands Yananymul Mununggurr

The AHNT Committee are recognised by the NT Minister for Housing as the NT peak body for Remote Aboriginal Housing

Committee Members

AHNT Activities & Achievements

• NTG fund AHNT for meetings and 1x Housing Policy Officer

• Held 14 Committee Meetings since forming in March 2015

• Presented at 5 Full Council meetings of the NLC and CLC • Haasts Bluff, Kalkarindji, Gulkula, Uluru, Tennant Creek

• On tender panel to award contracts in Phase One of the Remote Housing Development Authority process in early 2016 (RHDA not progressing)

• Co-Chair presented at National Congress re new Natn’l Housing peak – Adel.

• Co-Chairs presenting at the National Housing Conference – Sydney

• Co-Chairs invited on newly formed Dept of Housing and Community Development high level stakeholder group (yet to meet)

• Produce 2nd AHNT Newsletter

• Host 2nd NT Aboriginal Housing Forum 2018

• Community Housing Program Trials

• Work closely with NTG to achieve goals for Aboriginal Housing Reforms – a Strategy

• Engage with National Congress and the new National Aboriginal peak housing

• Engage with AHURI - Research specific to our needs – and next conference in NT.

Next Steps

AHNT visit Town

Camps &

Outstations in

The Centre

We see houses that look like this:

And this:

No exhaust fans for stoves,cracked walls, dirt floored verandah

What the Health Habitat data tells us:

• Lack of routine maintenance = 73%

•Poor initial construction = 19%

•Damage, vandalism, misuse or overuse by tenants = only 8%

We face Transitional Housing Issues

• MINYERRI The system failed the community after the govt displaced people from their homes; it did not provide transition housing while their homes were being upgraded

• Approx 400 people live in Minyerri community, located 4.5 hrs sth east of Katherine

MANINGRIDA

What keeps driving us? Self-determination Aboriginal rights enshrined in UNDRIP

• Article 21

• 1. Indigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination, to

the improvement of their economic and social conditions, including,

inter alia, in the areas of education, employment, vocational training

and retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security.

• Article 23

• Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development. In particular, indigenous peoples have the right to be actively involved in developing and determining health, housing and other economic and social programmes affecting them and, as far as possible, to administer such programmes through their own institutions.

UN Special Rapporteur Of Indigenous Peoples

The UN Rapporteur visited the

urban based Town Camps

in Darwin in March 2017.

Ms Tauli-Corpuz was surprised by

living conditions of Aboriginal people

- she said could understand if she

Was in the Philippines - but this

is Australia!

Further Contact

Louise Weber Housing Policy Officer

APO NT(08) 8944 6676 0432 029 155

louise.weber@amsant.org.auAPO NT CEOs Joe Morrison (NLC), Priscilla Collins (NAAJA), Leeanne Caton (CAALAS)

John Paterson (AMSANT) & David Ross (CLC)