Ozanam House shelter set to open in Coconut Grove within weeks

A new centre for the Top End’s homeless community is set to open in a new Darwin suburb within weeks. Read where it’s moving and see the pictures.

Construction work at the controversial new Ozanam House community centre on Dick Ward Drive is underway, with first services expected to be delivered within weeks.

St Vincent de Paul Society lodged plans with the Development Consent Authority earlier this year to relocate Ozanam House, on the corner of Westralia Street and Stuart Highway in Stuart Park, to a new temporary location in Coconut Grove.

In March, a meeting held at Ruby Gs cafe on Dick Ward Drive overwhelmingly rejected St Vincent de Paul’s relocation plan, with Labor MLAs Natasha Fyles (Nightcliff) and Brent Potter (Fannie Bay) also reported as opposing the move.

Work is well underway at new Ozanam House site on Dick Ward Drive. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Then in April, the Development Consent Authority approved St Vincent de Paul’s submission to relocate Ozanam House from Stuart Park to the proposed new site at 115 Dick Ward Drive, despite overwhelming objections from Coconut Grove business operators and residents.

Conditions of the permit approval included that the site not be used as a ‘habitable room’, and that use of the land for the community centre stops within two years of the certificate of occupancy being issued.

The DCA said 82 submissions against the application were lodged, with just eight of those supporting the relocation.

Although a number of submissions raised a lack of consultation by St Vincent de Paul around the relocation as an issue, the DCA said St Vincent had fulfilled its obligations under the NT Planning Scheme.

Objections raised by residents included increased anti-social behaviour, crime and loss of safety, incompatibility with surrounding uses, insufficient management, environmental impacts at the site and light spill and glare.

The new Ozanam House site on Dick Ward Drive. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Former City of Darwin councillor Roger Dee told the DCA he had owned a supermarket in Stuart Park near Ozanam House, and urged planners to assess the potential for the centre’s clients to impact within a 3km radius of the centre.

“Mr Dee considered it naive to believe that people would only use the facility and move back to their locality, and referred to obstacles that the site presents including access to only one bus route and one access road and was concerned about the inundation of streets with participants from the proposed community centre,” the DCA report said.

“Mr Dee believed that a person who is dependent on transport services will likely resolve to relocate to the area rather than enduring such travel distances and is concerned about the large areas around the site being used for ‘sleeping rough’ and camping.”

St Vincent de Paul Society NT president Joceylyn Hull. Picture: Supplied.

Peter McMillan from NT Shelter supported the relocation from Stuart Park to Coconut Gover and dismissed concerns about people sleeping rough, although he acknowledged any issues would not be detected until after the centre opened.

St Vincent de Paul NT president Jocelyn Cull said with one in 17 Territorians experiencing homelessness every night, the centre would restore dignity and provide a lifeline through the provision of support services including meals, showers, laundry facilities and access to legal and medical support.

She said the site would open at 6.30am and close at 1.30pm and operate from 7.30am to midday Monday to Friday.

“The slightly bigger site in Coconut Grove means that we can better accommodate the needs of the people using the centre within the 2800m2 site, without spilling over into surrounding public space,” Ms Cull said.

She said the Coconut Grove facility was due to begin operating in mid July.