{"id":221800,"date":"2025-10-18T03:48:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T03:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/221800\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T03:48:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T03:48:22","slug":"lack-of-housing-in-remote-nt-community-borroloola-forcing-families-off-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/221800\/","title":{"rendered":"Lack of housing in remote NT community Borroloola forcing families off country"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Darcy Isaac moved back to the remote Northern Territory community he grew up in, he had hoped to bring his children and raise them on country.<\/p>\n

But a lack of suitable housing available in Borroloola instead forced Mr Isaac to leave his three kids behind in Queensland.<\/p>\n

“I am worried \u2026 this is where we live, and when we go out there [away from country] we [are] nothing,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We feel like we want to come back here, but in the back of the mind [we] think: ‘Oh there’s a house problem back there, all the time’.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Darcy Isaac wants his kids to come back to community, but doesn’t want them to be in an unsafe living situation.\u00a0 (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Mr Isaac is staying in his Mum’s two-bedroom flat, a space too small for his young family.<\/p>\n

“In Doomadgee [in Queensland] I had a house over there, stable home, coming back here I’m staying with my mum, [while] working \u2026 it’s just too hard,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I tried putting in [applications] for a house but no-go.”<\/p>\n

Mr Isaac said the housing shortage was why other families had also moved away from Borroloola, a place essential for cultural knowledge.<\/p>\n

“That’s why it’s important to bring them back on country and take them back on homelands,” he said.<\/p>\n

“To make them strong, to know who they are, know where they come from, know their family.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Some houses in Borroloola house four or five families. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

No new builds planned<\/p>\n

Borroloola, about 650km south-east of Katherine, is a remote Aboriginal community on the banks of the McArthur River.<\/p>\n

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2021 the town was home to 55 people<\/a>, but locals estimated more than 1,000 currently lived there.<\/p>\n

In 2022, a block of new houses jointly funded by the Commonwealth and the NT government was constructed, with 39 new homes built in town camps.<\/p>\n

But a spokesperson for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Community Development (DHLGCD) confirmed in a statement no further builds were planned in the town.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Minister for Housing Steve Edgington said the funding for the 2022 homes was an “unprecedented investment” which recognised the “overcrowding problems in the community”.<\/p>\n

“Any future planned works will form part of future budget processes, noting that decisions around remote housing is a partnership involving the Commonwealth, land councils, local government and other stakeholders,” the statement read.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Some progress have been made in remote communities but housing is still desperatly needed. (ABC News: Tilda Colling)<\/p>\n

The latest Northern territory government figures, from 2024, show 53.5 per cent of homes are overcrowded in remote communities.<\/p>\n

As a construction worker, Brett Anderson said he wanted to be a part of the solution, but more funding was needed.<\/p>\n

“It’s really, it’s overcrowded about four of five families living in one house,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In last couple of years, that’s why there’s not much elder here, [and] middle aged, [and] young, they all moved out to different community, or go to Darwin so their kid can have a good future.”<\/p>\n

\"Brett<\/p>\n

Brett Anderson says he’s seen people of all ages, including elders, leave the community because of housing. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Johnathan Hayward has been building in Borroloola for three and a half years.<\/p>\n

He said the housing shortage was nationwide, but Borroloola faced other significant challenges.<\/p>\n

“Everyone tries but it’s just a challenge that is going to take a lot more time money and people to be able to come out here and facilitate it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re so far away from everything here, we’re five hundred kilometres away from the nearest intersection so you know the nearest Bunnings is 12 hours away.”\"A<\/p>\n

Johnathan Hayward (right) says building houses in Borroloola incur different challenges. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Mr Hayward said older lots of housing in Borroloola needed extreme repairs and maintenance.<\/p>\n

“Realistically and logistically it’s a pretty hard task,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Once they got them up to scratch, that’s fine, that would be adequate, but at the moment they’re just so run down and dilapidated it’s a pretty hard ask.”<\/p>\n

He said there have been some strides, such as the construction of public toilet blocks to take the strain off households during big gatherings including sorry business or funerals.<\/p>\n

The toilet blocks had been finished for three months but were not able to be open until a minister comes for an official opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

Mr Edgington said that the toilet block was “funded by the Commonwealth” and as such decisions around the block were its responsibility.<\/p>\n

\"toilet<\/p>\n

The opening of toilet blocks has been postponed to wait for a minister to officially open the block.<\/p>\n

Overcrowding impacting kids<\/p>\n

Residents Telena Booth-Waia and Alison Morrison have seen first-hand the impact overcrowding had on families, especially children.<\/p>\n

Ms Morrison said, for kids, crowded homes also played a role in school attendance.<\/p>\n

“Because there’s some of the people staying up late while they’re trying to have a rest for school,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If the kids go for school and they go check the kitchen and there’s not enough food for them to eat.”<\/p>\n

\"Telena<\/p>\n

Telena Booth-Waia (left) and Alison Morrison (right) worry about the impact overcrowding has on children. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Ms Booth-Waia said she was sad families were being forced out of the community.<\/p>\n

“There should be more houses here so people can stay in their own community,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They shouldn’t have to move away.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Darcy Isaac moved back to the remote Northern Territory community he grew up in, he had hoped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12365,64,63,134883,99,7688,9967,1098,100000],"class_list":["post-221800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aboriginal","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-borroloola","tag-business","tag-housing","tag-indigenous","tag-nt","tag-remote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}