Tennant Creek's housing crises is being exacerbated by a government rental scheme

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Some residents in the remote community of Tennant Creek in the northern territory are being forced to live in tin shacks with no power or water.  The town has long suffered from a housing crisis but a mining boom and a government rental scheme for employees like teachers and nurses are making matters worse.

Transcript

00:00 When Vanessa and her three children moved home to be closer to her sick mother, she

00:06 didn't foresee the ordeal that lay ahead.

00:09 Despite quickly getting work, it was finding a home that proved almost impossible.

00:15 I did put in a lot of application for rentals, but never got nowhere.

00:21 An abandoned house an hour out of town, with no running water or electricity, was the last

00:27 resort and where she's lived for months.

00:30 It's stressful because you have to drive in and out of town every day.

00:36 I have to drive for work.

00:38 My kids need to be at school.

00:40 No power.

00:42 We can't cook inside, so we just cook on the fire.

00:47 For some people, their only shelter are tin sheds, with no utilities they freeze in winter

00:54 and stifle in summer.

00:56 A housing crisis isn't new in Tennant Creek.

00:59 But a mining boom and an unusual government scheme has stirred up concerns residents are

01:05 being priced out of the rental market, or left with nothing at all.

01:10 Dozens of homes are rented out by the government for its workers who don't pay rent as an incentive.

01:16 In July 2020, there was an announcement of $3.175 million to build 12 one-bedroom units

01:25 for health staff.

01:26 Now, that project still hasn't gone ahead.

01:29 The lack of affordable housing poses a big challenge for businesses which are struggling

01:33 to find staff.

01:35 We pay them above-award wages to do the right thing by them, and they still struggle to

01:39 pay rent.

01:41 On one of the few housing projects in town, nearly all workers have faced the challenge

01:46 of finding a home.

01:47 There's pretty well nothing unless you're in the government.

01:50 So we struggle daily to bring in qualified and experienced staff to run multiple programs

01:56 that we deliver to the community.

01:59 I think now that the mine has recently come in and less housing stock there, we're definitely

02:04 feeling the pinch.

02:05 The Tennant Consolidated Mining Group, digging for gold and copper, purchased a motel for

02:10 staff and, says officials, requested they house workers in town to participate in the

02:16 community.

02:17 Meanwhile, the government says it's working on a range of strategies to ease housing pressures,

02:23 including building new homes.

02:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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