Mission Australia says it may have "lost contact" with some residents moved to a new homeless shelter in Batchelor after the closure of a 400-bed facility in Darwin, while a domestic violence service is reporting "increased presentations".
The last of those living at the YiSSA short-stay facility were bussed to the town of about 500 people 100 kilometres south of the Northern Territory capital last week after the NT government rejected a Commonwealth offer to help buy the site.
Mission Australia says a long-term solution beyond the Batchelor site's 19-month lease is needed. (ABC News: Tilda Colling)
Speaking to the media today, NT Children and Families Minister Robyn Cahill said just 23 people had taken up the offer to relocate to the Batchelor Transitional Facility (BTF).
Mission Australia runs the BTF and NT director Paul Royce said the organisation had helped with the transition to the new 90-bed facility in the outback town.
"A number of people we know have moved in with family, a number of people have returned to country, but we do worry we've lost contact with some people," he said.
Paul Royce says one man considered going to jail rather than having to leave Darwin. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)
"We were speaking with a gentleman at YiSSA who was contemplating holding up a bottle shop so he could get accommodation in jail for another six months, he saw that as a viable alternative to going to Batchelor,"
he said.
"We always spoke about the long-term solution for homelessness, we know this is not the solution in Batchelor, it's a much smaller facility."
Mission Australia currently has four staff working alongside the Department of Children and Families in the Batchelor facility, trying to transition people out of homelessness.
But Dr Royce emphasised the need for longer-term solutions past the end of the 19-month lease for the Batchelor site.
It follows the introduction of the NT government's new public housing policy this week, allowing tenants to be evicted after a single "significant" breach.
Lia Finocchiaro says the Batchelor residents will "get a beautiful double bed and a TV". (ABC News: Pete Garnish)
Speaking on Mix 104.9 yesterday, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said she was not concerned that the policy could see more vulnerable people on the streets.
"Because we have a lovely new facility out at Batchelor where homeless people can go and you'll get a beautiful double bed and a TV and an ensuite, it'll be great,"
she said.
"We will be dealing with those people as we do and homeless people will be given the opportunity at Batchelor."
'Antithesis' of reducing crime
Top End Women's Legal Service chief executive Caitlin Weatherby-Fell said it was "outrageous" that the BTF was expected to alleviate homelessness.
"We've had increased presentations from women seeking emergency and crisis accommodation, presenting with increased risk and needing safety planning to ensure they and their children are safe from violence," she said.
Caitlin Wetherby-Fell says the government does not appear to understand the impact of homelessness. (ABC RN: Kristina Kukolja)
"When women and children are exited into homelessness, it makes them far more vulnerable to family and domestic violence.
"It's compounding the problem we are already seeing in the territory, where we continue to see the highest rates of violence in the country.
"This appears to be a government that doesn't understand the impact of homelessness on the community at large.
"For a government who are set upon a reducing crime strategy, this is certainly the antithesis to meeting that goal."
Domestic Violence Prevention Minister Robyn Cahill was contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.
Local Labor member for Batchelor Dheran Young said the town's residents also held concerns about access to services for BTF residents, particularly domestic and family violence programs.
Dheran Young says the decision to move residents to Batchelor was "completely inappropriate". (ABC News: Pete Garnish)
"Obviously there can be clear links between homelessness and crime but that is out of people being put in very vulnerable situations and not having a home for themselves," he said.
"The future of the facility of YiSSA needs to be back in Darwin, the services are in Darwin.
"It is completely inappropriate to send people down to Batchelor."