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Public housing wait times

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

They are affected by a number of factors such as:

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

Below are the estimated waiting times for urban public housing as of 31 December 2023.

This includes general and priority applicants only.

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

Applications for public housing

Below is the total number of current applications for urban public housing as of 31 December 2023.

This includes general and priority applicants only.

Applications for public housing
Region General applications Priority applications
1 bedroom 2 bedroom ≥3 bedroomTotal 1 bedroom 2 bedroom ≥3 bedroomTotal
Darwin region 878 178 140 1,196 649 166 206 1,021
Palmerston 329 90 56 475 238 82 72 392
Katherine 227 57 72 356 80 42 50 172
Nhulunbuy 48 36 56 140 5 10 16 31
Tennant Creek 61 26 43 130 17 10 42 69
Alice Springs 445 203 201 849 134 121 133 388
Total1,9885905683,1461,1234315192,073

Public 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 public housing.

The number of urban public housing allocations from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 is shown below.

This includes general and priority applicants only.

Allocations for public housing
Region General allocations Priority allocations
1 bedroom 2 bedroom ≥3 bedroomTotal 1 bedroom 2 bedroom ≥3 bedroomTotal
Darwin region 14 9 8 31 32 20 38 90
Palmerston 12 8 18 38 17 18 18 53
Katherine 10 6 3 19 5 5 6 16
Nhulunbuy - - 2 2 1 1 - 2
Tennant Creek 2 - 1 3 - - 1 1
Alice Springs 5 3 4 12 3 3 5 11
Total 432636105584768 173

Applications for public housing compared to vacant public housing homes

Below is the total number of applications for public housing compared to vacant public housing homes as of 31 December 2023.

This includes general, priority and transfer applicants.

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

Region 1 bedroom 2 bedroom ≥3 bedroomTotal
Wait list Vacant homes Wait list Vacant homes Wait list Vacant homes Wait list Vacant homes
Darwin region 1,684 10 454 23 466 19 2,604 52
Palmerston 634 15 215 21 176 9 1,025 45
Katherine 322 - 110 10 142 5 574 15
Nhulunbuy 56 - 46 2 74 2 176 4
Tennant Creek 81 3 44 4 100 3 225 10
Alice Springs 629 15 359 15 404 25 1,392 55
Total 3,406431,228751,362635,996 181

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