Tackling Indigenous homelessness in Darwin

Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation is helping homeless Indigenous men in Darwin turn their lives around through the Watch House- Pick Up and Case Management project.

The success of the Watch House project, which is funded through the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, was recognised recently when it won the “Excellence in addressing Indigenous homelessness” category of the 2013 National Homelessness Services Achievement Awards.

At 6.30am every morning, the Larrakia Nation bus is available to drive home anyone who has spent the night in the Darwin watch house. Those who are homeless are invited back to Larrakia’s halfway house where they can clean up, have breakfast and if they wish, choose to stay.

Larrakia Nation CEO, Ilana Eldridge, said the project was set up in response to the corporation’s research, which showed that close to 70 per cent of Indigenous homeless people in Darwin had problems with alcohol.

“We’re offering an accommodation service where people can get healthy, have respite from living the dangerous life in the long grass and get involved in diversionary activities,” Ilana said.

“Then they can either go back to their remote communities of origin, find pathways into deeper rehabilitation programs if that’s what they need, or take part in other sorts of activities that will lead to a life that is more able to be filled with health and wellbeing.”

Ilana said many of the men in the Watch House project had been evicted from public housing due to destructive drunken behaviour, so diversionary activities focused on giving those men the skills to make amends. This includes learning basic carpentry, small engine work and housing maintenance and repair.

“We’ve had examples of people who have been evicted for being destructive that have then gone back to the home where they used to live, fixed up the damage they created, provided some furniture that’s been revitalised and also did garden maintenance work for the household,” Ilana said.

“And on some occasions those people have been invited back to live there because they’re now useful and productive and they’re off the grog.”

Participation in the Watch House project is completely voluntary, which Ilana said is important to its success.

“I think it means that people feel that they’re making an empowered choice,” she said.

“Psychologically, that’s pretty important, particularly for people who in so many other ways have become accustomed to a sense of powerlessness in their lives.”