National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing

The National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing (NPA) will address:

significant overcrowding
homelessness
poor housing conditions
the severe housing shortage in remote Indigenous communities.

Improving housing conditions is fundamental to achieving improvements in Indigenous health, education and employment and make a major contribution towards closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage.

Joint media release: Prime Minister Rudd and Minister Macklin - $4 Billion to help close the gap for Indigenous Australians

Funding - ten year strategy

Total funding of $5.5 billion over 10 years ($1.94 billion new funding plus previous funding allocated under the Australian Remote Indigenous Accommodation Program funding of $3.55 billion) will provide:

up to 4,200 new houses in remote Indigenous communities; and
upgrades to around 4,800 existing houses through a program of major repairs and/or replacement.

Funding is also provided for a minor repairs and maintenance program, housing functionality checks, tenancy management, improvements to town camps and for the provision of employment related accommodation.

Implementation - roles and responsibilities

The Commonwealth has responsibility for funding additional Indigenous housing and housing-related infrastructure in remote Australia.

The states and the Northern Territory have responsibility for:

the provision of housing in Indigenous communities
being the major deliverers of housing in remote areas of Australia
providing standardised tenancy management
and support for all Indigenous housing consistent with public housing standards of tenancy management.

The agreement commenced on 1 January 2009 with implementation plans to be finalised by 1 April 2009.

The agreement is one of three National Partnership Agreements supporting the National Affordable Housing Agreement.