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Social housing wait times

Social housing wait times are reported on all allocations managed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Community Development and community housing providers.

Wait times for social housing vary, depending on each applicant's circumstances.

They are affected by a number of factors such as the:

general demand for social housing
number of approved priority applications
availability and turnover of suitable homes in each location.

Below are the estimated waiting times for urban social housing as of 31 December 2025.

This includes general and priority applicants only.

Estimated wait times for social housing (years)
Region	General wait times			Priority wait times
Region	1 bedroom	2 bedroom	≥3 bedroom	1 bedroom	2 bedroom	≥3 bedroom
Darwin/Casuarina	10+	6-8	10+	6-8	6-8	4-6
Palmerston	10+	4-6	4-6	6-8	4-6	4-6
Katherine	8-10	8-10	8-10	6-8	6-8	6-8
Nhulunbuy	8-10	8-10	8-10	6-8	8-10	8-10
Tennant Creek	8-10	6-8	8-10	8-10	4-6	6-8
Alice Springs	8-10	8-10	8-10	8-10	8-10	8-10

Applications for social housing

Below is the total number of current applications for urban social housing as of 31 December 2025.

The number of applications for social housing is limited to those made to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Community Development, it excludes applications made directly to community housing providers.

This includes general and priority applicants only.

Applications for social housing
Region	General applications				Priority applications
Region	1 bedroom	2 bedroom	≥3 bedroom	Total	1 bedroom	2 bedroom	≥3 bedroom	Total
Darwin region	901	137	126	1,164	659	194	219	1,072
Palmerston	323	81	65	469	257	70	111	438
Katherine	235	73	67	375	87	50	55	192
Nhulunbuy	56	37	53	146	13	12	16	41
Tennant Creek	58	27	36	121	23	12	41	76
Alice Springs	491	188	195	874	183	123	139	445
Total	2,064	543	542	3,149	1,222	461	581	2,264

Social housing allocations

Allocations from the wait list are dependent on the availability of housing stock, which is generally linked to the number of households leaving social housing.

The number of urban social housing allocations from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 is shown below.

This includes general and priority applicants only.

Allocations for social housing
Region	General allocations				Priority allocations
Region	1 bedroom	2 bedroom	≥3 bedroom	Total	1 bedroom	2 bedroom	≥3 bedroom	Total
Darwin region	13	4	5	22	13	10	20	43
Palmerston	6	1	1	8	13	10	8	31
Katherine	2	6	1	9	2	4	2	8
Nhulunbuy	-	1	1	2	-	-	-	-
Tennant Creek	4	2	5	11	3	1	6	10
Alice Springs	10	3	2	15	6	1	1	8
Total	35	17	15	67	37	26	37	100

Applications for social housing compared to vacant social housing homes

Below is the total number of applications for social housing compared to vacant social housing homes as of 31 December 2025.

This includes general, priority and transfer applicants.

Vacant homes includes dwellings undergoing vacancy assessments, maintenance, major upgrade and that are available to allocate.

The vacant dwellings number is limited to dwellings in the Tenancy Management System (TMS) and does not include all community housing providers.

Region	1 bedroom		2 bedroom		≥ 3 bedroom		Total
Region	Waitlist	Vacant homes	Waitlist	Vacant homes	Waitlist	Vacant homes	Waitlist	Vacant homes
Darwin region	1,757	16	410	32	463	21	2,630	69
Palmerston	647	16	202	11	238	5	1,087	32
Katherine	344	7	133	23	147	14	624	44
Nhulunbuy	71	1	49	2	71	2	191	5
Tennant Creek	89	5	53	2	85	2	227	9
Alice Springs	734	24	343	19	414	34	1,491	77
Total	3,642	69	1,190	89	1,418	78	6,250	236

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