Pirlangimpi gets new homes but Territory Government might miss remote housing target
SEE THE GALLERY: Pirlangimpi residents move into their new homes as the Territory Government seeks an extension on its national partnership.
Indigenous Affairs
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The freshly laid concrete extends to the front door, creating an accessible path from outside the six-foot fence to the bright blue duplex.
Hanging from Graham Henry-Whiting’s index finger are the keys to house 351 - his first home.
The 29-year-old was born with a hereditary spastic paraplegia, a degenerative condition that impacts his mobility.
Due to a severe lack of housing, he has been forced to live with his parents in an overcrowded house at Pirlangimpi on the north-west point of Melville Island.
Despite there being no new infrastructure in his community for 15 years, a mass injection under the Northern Territory’s $2.1bn HomeBuild program means he can now live independently in a home custom-made to meet his future disability needs.
“I find it hard to walk, so I get around on my bike most the time,” he said.
“But this new place means I won’t have to move around so much and can just stay in my own place.”
The smile from his face is a palpable sign of joy.
Graham was one of 14 families to receive keys to new homes on the island north of Darwin. Since 2019, Territory contractor DT Hobbs has repaired and extended 44 homes and built 20 new dwellings in an effort to address the housing crisis in remote community and will build a further 11 in the coming 24 months.
However, the Pirlangimpi development comes in the wake of the federal budget which will this week confirm details for a new partnership, along with further investments in homelessness that disproportionately impacts Territorians.
The Federal and Territory governments’ National Partnership for Remote Housing NT is due to expire in June 2023.
Then Liberals provided $550m to Territory Labor with the caveat they build 1950 new rooms or the equivalent of 650 three-bedroom homes before the agreement expired.
Remote Housing minister Selena Uibo said current forecasts show the government may miss that target and she is currently in negotiations for a 12-month extension on the agreement.
(We) are looking at an extension around the negotiating period and then negotiation parameter for national partnership agreements,” Ms Uibo said.
“We know there’s been delays because of Covid, we know that the extra costs have gone up in regards to materials and importing materials to the country, and then of course, the cost it takes to export materials to remote areas in order to build.”
The HomeBuild website shows the government has only spent about half its budget, which has significantly accelerated since December last year and completed 1267 new bedrooms.
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