Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Menzies School of Health Research.
The MoU will formalise the collaborative partnership to improve the quality of remote housing in the NT and comes after the federal and Territory governments committed to a ten-year remote housing funding package.
Negotiations to enable the MoU were led by AHNT chief executive officer Skye Thompson and Menzies Senior Research Fellow Dr Liam Grealy, with a vision to find solutions to support and enable Aboriginal self-determination over remote housing in the NT.
"Aboriginal Housing NT is proud to formalise our relationship with Menzies School of Health Research," Ms Thompson said.
With safe, secure, and culturally appropriate housing a key social determinant of health - which turn is hoped will help close the gap for First Nations people in the NT - both AHNT and Menzies said they have a common interest in analysing the most effective and culturally appropriate ways to support better health and wellbeing outcomes for remote communities in the Territory.
Adequate housing plays a vital role in supporting early childhood development, as well as the overall physical and mental health of families.
It also is vital in helping to reduce skin, respiratory, ear, nose, and throat infections, as well as lowering the risk of developing serious chronic conditions like rheumatic heart disease, which is prevalent across remote communities in the NT.
"Aboriginal households in the NT continue to experience significantly poorer housing and health than non-Indigenous people," Ms Thompson said.
"We see this partnership as an important opportunity to build the evidence base to drive better housing and health outcomes for Aboriginal Territorians."
The MoU also recognises the success of the new organisations, with Menzies having engaged with AHNT as a member of expert advisory groups to help inform work on the monitoring and evaluation of projects for the Healthy Homes program and the Homelands Housing and Infrastructure Program.
Furthermore, AHNT has used independently commissioned research from Menzies to investigate options for the Indigenous-controlled governance of the remote housing system in the NT.
Dr Grealy said the agreement with AHNT provides a "significant opportunity" for Menzies.
"Building on an already strong collaborative research partnership, the MoU will ensure that housing research is informed by the NT Aboriginal peak body for housing and its vision of Aboriginal housing in Aboriginal hands," he said.
"Housing quality is central to householder wellbeing and to the sustainability of town camps, remote communities, and homelands.
"Solutions to improve housing quality require the input of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, remote householders, and NT-based researchers working in collaboration."
Menzies and AHNT also said the formalised partnership would provide further opportunities to expand research into remote housing, which will help to grow the capacity of NT-based researchers to support the progress of on-the-ground research into remote housing.
