The Wire

Alice Springs has inherited a truckload of demountable buildings from Woomera, as temporary housing solution for Alice Springs’ Indigenous population. Many of the town’s residents are concerned the demountables will fuel anti-social behaviour. But the Town Mayor, Fran Kilgarrif is adamant they will be closely managed to prevent further community dislocation. Meanwhile, the Federal Government is keen to emphasise the demountables will only be used for the short-term, but with no permanent solutions to the housing shortage on the horizon, such promises seem hard to fulfill. One organisation trying to find sustainable, flexible housing solutions for remote Indigenous communities is the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.