Introduction by Croakey: Women who were transferred from Alice Springs Correctional Centre to Darwin Correctional Centre last month are facing unsafe living conditions during the Northern Territory heatwave.
According to reports gathered by the National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, the women are living in overcrowded cells, with broken air-conditioning, and forced to spend long periods outside in extreme heat.
With Sweltering Cities, the Network have penned a petition and an open letter to NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro requesting a clear timeline for when the women will be safely returned to Alice Springs, and calling for immediate action to ensure the Darwin Correctional Centre meets basic health standards, including functional cooling and safe living conditions.
This comes as a report by The Guardian highlights the “stark evidence of how severely human-caused global heating is supercharging extreme weather”, including 24 heatwaves across the globe that would have had “virtually zero chance of happening without the extra heat trapped by fossil fuel emissions”.
Based on data of 744 attribution studies analysed by Carbon Brief, The Guardian reports that “the burning of fossil fuels has so dramatically changed the climate that heatwaves are hitting communities with a severity and frequency never seen during the entire development of human civilisation over the past 5,000 years”.
Meanwhile, Annie Taylor, NT Shelter’s Head of Operations, highlights below the impacts that extreme heat can have on people experiencing homelessness, and says that new funding to address homelessness is an opportunity to address threats of extreme heat for those most at risk during the hottest months.
“The intersection of rough sleeping and increasing heatwaves in the Northern Territory presents a growing public health challenge that requires attention,” she says.
Annie Taylor writes:
With heatwaves impacting large parts of the Northern Territory before summer officially starts, we are concerned about the health impacts of this on people experiencing homelessness.
The number of people accessing homelessness drop-in centres in some urban centres in the Northern Territory has increased 50-100 percent since the heat started in late October.
In Alice Springs, people are presenting earlier in the day, prior to the centre opening. According to staff, this is likely to seek shade and avoid the heat of the day. In Katherine, the service has extended its hours to accommodate additional need.
Late October through to mid-November 2024 saw rolling extreme, severe and low-intensity heatwave warnings across large parts of the jurisdiction, from the Tiwi Islands down to the central Simpson District.
As summer temperatures climb and heatwaves become more frequent, for those experiencing homelessness, extreme heat is not just uncomfortable, it can be life-threatening.
There is little research into the experiences of people sleeping rough during heatwaves in the Northern Territory.
However, research on the impact of Darwin’s extreme heat and poor air quality arising from landscape fires on outdoor workers, teachers, carers and sportspeople has shown a significant impact on the work, health and activities of these groups of people.
The researchers in this study concluded that there are gaps in policy and infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of these climate concerns.
Given that people sleeping rough likely spend more time outdoors and are generally more at risk of adverse health conditions than the cohorts researched in this study, it makes sense to conclude that extreme heat has a significant detrimental impact on the homeless population of Darwin.
Heatwaves and health
Heatwaves are Australia’s most dangerous natural hazard in terms of loss of life.
There is no nation-wide temperature threshold for a heatwave, but the Bureau of Meteorology defines heatwaves as three or more days in a row when both daytime and nighttime temperatures are unusually high in relation to the local long-term climate and the recent past.
Heatstroke is the most severe heat-related illness and involves an elevation of body temperature above 40C.
The Northern Territory experiences the worst rates of homelessness in Australia, at 12 times the national average.
Despite holding just one percent of the total population of Australia, the Northern Territory accounts for 11 percent of the nation’s homeless population – 87 percent of Territorians who experience homelessness are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Nationally, First Nations people account for 20 percent of the homeless population.
Although severe crowding accounts for the vast majority of homelessness in the Northern Territory, the Territory has 9.5 times the national rate of people living in improvised dwellings, tents, or sleeping out; as it’s known in the Northern Territory, sleeping rough or long grassing. Approximately 80 percent of people sleeping rough in the Northern Territory are Aboriginal people.
Heatwaves can have serious health impacts for people who are unable to stay cool in the hot weather. A study by St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney in 2020 found that the impacts of extreme heat exacerbate the complex interactions that people who are experiencing street homelessness may have with mental illness, medications and substance use disorder.
Two homeless men with known risk factors for heat-related illness, including cirrhosis, hypertension and schizophrenia were included in the study.
Following their presentation to emergency, these two cases alone represented over $70,000 in medical costs and a combined 31 days of hospitalisation for the treatment of severe heatstroke, highlighting the economic cost of inadequate support for people sleeping rough during heatwaves.
Heatstroke is a preventable condition. More on this research is available here.
A study of people sleeping rough in the Adelaide CBD on very hot days found that 79 percent of those surveyed reported experiencing one or more symptoms of heat stress.
In Alice Springs, a heat mitigation study conducted by the University of New South Wales found that some CBD streets had a surface temperature of 68C.
Indigenous leaders have long voiced their concerns about extreme heat causing an influx of climate refugees to the town. Without an increase in accommodation, this will likely lead to more people sleeping rough.
The Northern Territory has historically been disadvantaged in terms of funding for homelessness services, receiving only 1.3 percent of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, the Federal Government’s mechanism to distribute funds to the states and territories for housing and homelessness.
A recent sevenfold increase in funding readies us to consider evidence-based interventions to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat on those who sleep rough.
Outreach programs
Currently, regular assertive outreach programs run in Darwin and Alice Springs only. For people sleeping rough in our other urban centres or in remote Northern Territory, support is ad hoc.
The sector and Northern Territory Government have identified ongoing assertive outreach as a priority for this new funding. Day centres and a centralised intake system are also being considered.
Of course, the most important strategy for mitigating the heat risk to people experiencing street homelessness is the provision of housing that is adequately cooled. However, whilst additional housing comes online, we can look to other jurisdictions and even overseas to find solutions. As the world warms, innovation to cool our cities grows.
In Sydney, the Homelessness and Heat Emergency Activation Team (HHEATeam) have created Australia’s first mobile cooling hubs. Powered by renewable energy, the hubs offer immediate heat relief including fans, water dousing and hydration.
In Melbourne in summer 2024, a pop-up Heat Relief hub provided respite from heat in the CBD. The hub provided access to health workers, refreshments, ice packs and vouchers to attend other cool and air-conditioned places like movie theatres and swimming pools.
Heatstroke symptoms like confusion, dizziness, fainting, delirium and lethargy can present either suddenly or progressively.
As highlighted in the earlier referenced study on the cases of two people who were treated for heatstroke at a Sydney Hospital, people experiencing street homelessness are often alone and therefore less likely to be able to identify or be alerted to heatstroke symptoms as they arise.
Given the level of rough sleeping in the Northern Territory, innovative interventions are needed to keep people safe.
Small devices that allow wearers to detect the signs of heatstroke are being rolled out in high-risk workplaces, and evolving technology like thermal imaging drones were used to detect COVID-19, identify people sleeping rough in hard-to-reach locations, and disseminate health messaging and sanitation kits.
The intersection of rough sleeping and increasing heatwaves in the Northern Territory presents a growing public health challenge that requires attention.
While providing adequate housing remains the most effective solution, immediate interventions such as mobile cooling hubs, outreach programs, and the integration of technology, can offer critical respite and reduce the risks of heat-related illnesses like heatstroke and fatality.
The recent increase in funding for homelessness services in the Northern Territory provides an opportunity to implement evidence-based strategies to safeguard those most at risk during the hottest months.
By learning from innovative programs in other jurisdictions and tailoring these solutions to the unique challenges of the Territory, we can ensure that no one is left to suffer in the long grass during a heatwave.
Services available
If you are concerned for the wellbeing of someone who is experiencing homelessness in Darwin, you can contact the City of Darwin Assertive Outreach Team on 1800 116 986.
In Alice Springs, you can contact Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation Assertive Outreach is: 1800 953 775
For a full list of services that support people with an experience of homelessness, head to shelterme.org.au.
About the author
Annie Taylor is Head of Operations at NT Shelter and holds a Masters of International Public Health from the University of Sydney. NT Shelter is the peak body for affordable housing and homelessness in the Northern Territory.
See Croakey’s extensive archive of articles on the social determinants of health
