AADANT News & Media Releases

The Northern Territory’s peak body for Alcohol and Other Drug services is calling on the NT Government to urgently reconsider its decision to close a major Darwin homelessness shelter, leaving hundreds of Territorian children and adults without access to housing and crucial services. 

The Association of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies NT (AADANT) said that the decision to not renew the lease at YiSSA Short-Stay Accommodation Centre would have dire consequences for Top End communities. 

“YiSSA is not just a roof over someone’s head, it’s a critical part of a system that engages people with services that make everyone safer and healthier.” AADANT CEO Stephanie Holmes said. 

“Housing instability is one of the biggest barriers to people engaging with and staying in AOD treatment. When someone does not have a safe and stable place to stay, treatment does not work. People cannot focus on recovery when they do not know where they will sleep. They disengage. They relapse. In the worst cases, they do not survive.”

Ms Holmes said that the Government cannot ignore the impact that removing transitional housing will have on many other services that will absorb this pressure without additional support. 

“Without YiSSA, our frontline AOD services lose a crucial avenue to provide support for a huge number of people struggling with complex health needs such as AOD dependency, mental ill-health, disability, domestic & family violence. This decision compounds and exacerbates these issues, pushing NT AOD and mental health facilities that are already operating at capacity to breaking point.” 

“The NT Government must recognise that housing and AOD treatment are not separate systems, they are interdependent and decisions that destabilise one will inevitably strain the other.”

AADANT is calling on the NT Government to:

• Extend the transition timeline to allow for genuine planning and adequate alternative pathways to be established.
• Commit additional funding to ensure no person currently supported by YiSSA is left without safe accommodation and appropriate support.
• Engage meaningfully with the homelessness, AOD, health and community services sectors on a transition plan that reflects the true scale and complexity of what YiSSA does.
• Honour its Closing the Gap commitments by ensuring decisions of this magnitude do not further disadvantage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and families.

AADANT stands with Yilli Rreung Housing Aboriginal Corporation and all partners in advocating for the people who rely on YiSSA. We urge the NT Government to get back to the table before more harm is done.