Introduction by Croakey: The Northern Territory Government must be held to account for its closure this week of YiSSA, a large housing shelter in Darwin, and the relocation of residents – some with serious health problems – to Batchelor, according to an Aboriginal health expert.
In a statement published below, Dr Donna Ah Chee, CEO of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), said the impacts of YiSSA’s closure must be monitored and evaluated, with the findings made public. She also called for wider action on the severe housing shortage in the NT, including “significant, long-term investment in social housing that reflects the scale of need”.
An ABC report earlier this week described scenes of confusion and concern, with YiSSA being closed before alternative accommodation was ready in Batchelor, about 100 km south of Darwin. Some people with serious medical conditions were being moved, despite previous NT Government assurances that no medically vulnerable people would be moved away from key services.
Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, told the Senate this week that the Federal Government had made several offers to the NT Government to keep YiSSA operating.
Instead, the NT Government was moving one of the country’s largest homeless and short-stay facilities to Batchelor, a small community of roughly 500 people, where there was limited policing and access to medical services, and no public bus, with a taxi to Darwin costing hundreds of dollars, she said.
“I suggest that the priority was an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach,” Minister McCarthy said.
Describing the closure as callous, cruel and “completely reprehensible”, McCarthy said it would leave many people sleeping rough and in dangerous situations. “They’ve returned to remote communities where they can’t get dialysis that they need for their renal needs, and these decisions could be fatal,” she said.
The AMSANT statement is published in full below.
Housing is health infrastructure
AMSANT calls for safeguards as YiSSA residents are relocated
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) is calling on the Northern Territory Government to urgently ensure every former YiSSA resident has safe, appropriate accommodation and reliable access to healthcare, and to publicly account for the health impacts of relocating vulnerable residents to Batchelor.
AMSANT CEO Donna Ah Chee said the closure of the Darwin short-stay accommodation facility had exposed the dangerous consequences of the Northern Territory’s chronic shortage of safe, appropriate social housing for people with serious health needs.
Residents have raised serious concerns about access to healthcare following the closure of YiSSA on Monday, with reports that people with complex medical conditions have been relocated to Batchelor, about 100 kilometres from Darwin.
Residents have also raised concerns about people with cancer and those requiring regular dialysis. The Government has said no resident requiring medical care will be left without a way to access it.
“For people living with kidney disease and other serious chronic or complex health conditions, having a safe and stable place to stay is not separate from their healthcare. It is essential to it,” Ah Chee said.
“People with serious health needs should not be sleeping on the floor of an overcrowded house or facing the prospect of moving away from the health services and support networks they rely on.
“Moving someone with serious or complex health needs 100 kilometres from the hospitals, specialists and ongoing treatment they rely on can put their health at risk, particularly if reliable transport and continuity of care are not in place.
“Missed appointments, disrupted medication and delays in treatment can have serious consequences. We should not have to wait until people become critically unwell or end up in hospital to recognise that risk.”
Wider problem
Ah Chee said ensuring suitable accommodation close to treatment for people with serious health needs was essential, but the situation pointed to a much larger problem.
AIHW data shows 57 percent of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory live in overcrowded housing, the highest rate of any state or territory. Evidence links overcrowding to poorer health, including higher rates of infectious illness and acute rheumatic fever, as well as increased avoidable hospital admissions.
“YiSSA may be closing, but the need it has been meeting is not going away,” Ah Chee said.
“There simply are not enough safe, appropriate and affordable housing options in Darwin for people who need to come in from remote communities for healthcare, or for the many other Territorians who need social housing.
“That shortage has consequences across our health system. Overcrowding contributes to poor health, housing instability makes it harder to manage chronic disease, and when people have nowhere safe to go, hospitals and health services inevitably carry more of the burden.”
Ah Chee called on the NT Government to urgently review the accommodation and healthcare arrangements for all former YiSSA residents, particularly those with chronic or complex medical conditions, and to publicly report, without identifying individuals, on the impacts of the closure and relocation on people’s health, access to treatment and housing stability.
“The Government has promised that no one needing medical care will be left without a way to reach it. It must now demonstrate that those arrangements are working in practice,” she said.
“That means ensuring people have appropriate accommodation, reliable transport to appointments, access to their medications and continuity of care. If those arrangements are not working, the Government needs to act immediately rather than wait until people become seriously unwell.
“The impacts of this relocation must be monitored and evaluated, with the findings made public. Aboriginal community-controlled health services must be involved in assessing people’s needs and ensuring they receive the care and support they require.”
Ah Chee said the way the closure had been managed was unacceptable and should prompt a renewed focus on expanding social and supported housing in Darwin and across the Northern Territory, including accommodation that meets the needs of people accessing ongoing healthcare.
“We need significant, long-term investment in social housing that reflects the scale of need in the Northern Territory, including appropriate accommodation for people who have to travel hundreds of kilometres from their communities to access healthcare.
“YiSSA has brought this problem into sharp focus, but it did not create it. The underlying problem is a severe shortage of housing, and unless we address that, we will keep seeing people cycle through overcrowded homes, homelessness, hospitals and crisis services.
“Housing is health infrastructure. We need to start treating it that way.”
See Croakey’s archive of articles on housing and health
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