Proposed social housing reforms in the Northern Territory have continued to be criticised, with one of the country's largest land councils calling on the federal government to get involved.

This week, the CLP government announced plans to recoup $39 million in rent arrears from public housing tenants as well as fast-track evictions for people who engage in antisocial behaviour.

It comes after they introduced the NT Government's Remote Rent Framework earlier this year, which sees the public housing model shift from an income-based arrangement to a $70 per-bedroom model —the only jurisdiction in the country with this arrangement.

The NT currently has a public housing waitlist of almost 6,000 people, with a homelessness rate 12 times the national average.

On Friday, the Central Land Council (CLC) said Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, needed to make the NT government "get its own house in order" rather than go after low-income tenants.

CLC chair Warren Williams said Minister McCarthy should "demand to know" what the NT is doing to understand why people are struggling to pay their rent and falling through the cracks.

He said the CLP government needed to "fix, maintain and deliver houses that are worth the rent it charges the poorest Australians," noting they had agreed to do so under the housing partnership with the Commonwealth.

Last year, the federal and NT governments announced a joint $4 billion investment for housing in remote communities across the NT. The 10-year commitment is designed to improve remote housing and will see up to 270 homes built each year with the goal of "halving overcrowding".

"With the highest levels of overcrowding and homelessness in the country the Territory can ill afford more evictions and draconian tenancy policies," Mr Williams said.

The CLP government say they will introduce several reforms to make tenants accountable, with Housing Minister Steve Edgington telling Parliament on Thursday: "Antisocial behaviour and unpaid rent won't be tolerated."

"The time for excuses and rolling out the red carpet for repeat offenders is over," he said.

The government says there are 1,422 tenancies across the full urban NT public housing portfolio which have accumulated debts of over $10,000; the highest debt is $40,000.

On Friday, Opposition Leader Selena Uibo said the planned reforms were "about punitive approaches, rather than real engagement".

"The CLP government is now going to be implementing a policy that will create more circumstances for homelessness here in the Northern Territory, and also what we believe are more pathways to crime on our streets," she said.

Mr Williams said it was unsurprising unpaid rents have "spiralled". He argued that "rents have gone up steeply" under the Remote Rent Framework, introduced in 2023, which saw the public housing model shift from an income-based arrangement to a $70 per-bedroom model.

"In this cost-of-living crisis public housing tenants out bush, with low incomes and sky-high store, power and transport prices, are doing it especially tough," Mr Williams said.

The CLC said the government needed to explain how it plans to "squeeze rent arrears from empty bank accounts and how this will not lead to even more Aboriginal people in jail or homeless".

Highlighting the Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa) High Court case and Watiyawanu (Mount Liebig) coronial inquest which showed Aboriginal people needed to put up with a lack of repairs and maintenance, Mr Williams said Indigenous people across the NT have to "pay rent for houses that do not meet acceptable standards, and where no one would live if they had a choice".

"The Territory must fulfil its responsibility as landlord and provide safe and habitable housing, It must bring existing housing stock to an acceptable standard and implement an effective cyclical and preventative maintenance program," he said.

National Indigenous Times contacted Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy for comment.