HOUSES in town camps are bursting at the seams with sometimes 20 or more people living in each home.
And the $30 million deal to ‘normalise’ the camps will yield no new houses.
Instead, 78 houses will be refurbished and infrastructure such as power, water, sewerage and roads will be upgraded.
That’s no great news for Frank Anderson and Mary Johnny who live in a tin shack at the back of Wuppa Camp.
The house is burning hot in summer and freezing in the cooler months.
The only way the elderly couple have access to electricity is by running a series of extension cords along the ground to a relative’s home nearby.
Frank and Mary had been happy living at Elliott but moved to Tennant Creek about three years ago so Mary could access renal dialysis.
Since then, they say they have been living like dogs.
“This house is not for humans,” Frank said.
“It’s no good but this is all we have.”
Frank said he has asked Julalikari Council to move him into a better home but the requests have fallen on deaf ears.
When he heard about the millions being poured into Aboriginal housing here he says he got quite excited.
“Yeah, I thought we’d get a nice home at last and we were looking forward to it,” he said.
“I could see there were five houses in Wuppa being fixed up so I went to Julalikari and asked if we could move into one when they were finished but they said people are already moving in there, that they were already taken.
“Looks like we have to stay in the dog house now.”
Frank said his neighbour who lives in a home just like his is over 80 years old.
“She’ll have to stay in that old shack too, they won’t give her a good home,” he said.
“I think all the money will be spent on the high boot.”
The Strategic Indigenous Housing Infrastructure Program (SIHIP), a joint Northern Territory and Federal Government housing program worth $672 million, was announced over two years ago - the $30 million housing deal for Tennant Creek was part of the initiative.
Last October the Federal Government announced a further $6.5 million to build new houses in Tennant Creek bringing the total amount to be spent locally to $36.5 million.
However not one single house has been built anywhere in the Territory.
Refurbishments only recently started in Tennant Creek shortly before Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, called in to town to inspect works.
New Future Alliance, which is managing the Tennant Creek project, has not returned answers to questions about the percentage breakdown on administration / management costs and actual works.
Although they did issue a press release two weeks ago announcing former Territory Government minister, John Ah Kit, as its new senior adviser for New Future Alliance, escalating widespread concern that much of the money intended to improve housing for Aboriginal people would instead be soaked up into running costs.
The NT Government expects to spend about $100 million on red tape during the roll out of the housing project however Territory Opposition Indigenous Affairs spokesman, Adam Giles, believes that amount is way too much.
“This funding is supposed to improve housing in remote indigenous communities, so we need a leaner, more efficient administrative model,” he said.
“The SIHIP program was created to address overcrowding and to improve the amenities of existing housing, but it seems the massive overcrowding issue has been ignored.
“There’s not much point in creating Taj Mahals from existing houses and having 20 to 30 people try to squeeze into one home.
“It makes more sense to build enough standard houses so everyone is able to live reasonably.
“Clearly many news houses are needed in Tennant Creek and the SIHIP program should address this.”
This week the Territory’s Minister for Indigenous Policy, Alison Anderson, threatened to quit the Labor Party over the way SIHIP funding has been allocated.
Such a move could topple the Henderson Government which lost its majority when Marion Scrymgour quit the party to become an independent in June.
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