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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 2024.
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 | 6-8 | 8-10 | 6-8 | 4-6 | 4-6 | ||
| Palmerston | 8-10 | 4-6 | 4-6 | 6-8 | 4-6 | 4-6 | ||
| Katherine | 8-10 | 6-8 | 8-10 | 6-8 | 6-8 | 6-8 | ||
| Nhulunbuy | 8-10 | 8-10 | 8-10 | 4-6 | 8-10 | 6-8 | ||
| Tennant Creek | 8-10 | 6-8 | 6-8 | 8-10 | 4-6 | 4-6 | ||
| 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 2024.
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 public housing | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | General applications | Priority applications | |||||||||
| 1 bedroom | 2 bedroom | ≥3 bedroom | Total | 1 bedroom | 2 bedroom | ≥3 bedroom | Total | ||||
| Darwin region | 901 | 161 | 128 | 1,190 | 719 | 211 | 224 | 1,154 | |||
| Palmerston | 337 | 76 | 64 | 477 | 262 | 96 | 96 | 454 | |||
| Katherine | 241 | 79 | 72 | 392 | 78 | 37 | 51 | 166 | |||
| Nhulunbuy | 51 | 38 | 57 | 146 | 6 | 12 | 19 | 37 | |||
| Tennant Creek | 61 | 23 | 37 | 121 | 19 | 9 | 43 | 71 | |||
| Alice Springs | 482 | 217 | 218 | 917 | 163 | 120 | 128 | 411 | |||
| Total | 2,073 | 594 | 576 | 3,243 | 1,247 | 485 | 561 | 2,293 | |||
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 2024 to 31 December 2024 is shown below.
This includes general and priority applicants only.
| Allocations for public housing | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | General allocations | Priority allocations | |||||||||
| 1 bedroom | 2 bedroom | ≥3 bedroom | Total | 1 bedroom | 2 bedroom | ≥3 bedroom | Total | ||||
| Darwin region | 19 | 11 | 9 | 39 | 29 | 12 | 21 | 62 | |||
| Palmerston | 16 | 5 | 5 | 26 | 23 | 20 | 12 | 55 | |||
| Katherine | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | |||
| Nhulunbuy | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | - | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Tennant Creek | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 13 | |||
| Alice Springs | 14 | 6 | 7 | 27 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 26 | |||
| Total | 56 | 26 | 28 | 110 | 68 | 49 | 52 | 169 | |||
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 2024.
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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wait list | Vacant homes | Wait list | Vacant homes | Wait list | Vacant homes | Wait list | Vacant homes | |
| Darwin region | 1,810 | 11 | 473 | 19 | 470 | 9 | 2,753 | 39 |
| Palmerston | 663 | 10 | 221 | 8 | 203 | 16 | 1,087 | 34 |
| Katherine | 336 | 8 | 128 | 23 | 148 | 11 | 612 | 42 |
| Nhulunbuy | 59 | - | 50 | 2 | 78 | 2 | 187 | 4 |
| Tennant Creek | 85 | 5 | 43 | 2 | 91 | 8 | 219 | 15 |
| Alice Springs | 691 | 19 | 372 | 13 | 421 | 17 | 1,484 | 49 |
| Total | 3,644 | 53 | 1,287 | 67 | 1,411 | 63 | 6,342 | 183 |
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