00:02Anxiety is growing at Yissa, where more than 220 adults and 130 children live.
00:09I've been here about 12 months now and I was on the street before that and recovering
00:15from stomach cancer and that and remission now at the moment.
00:18And it's really nice here and it's really like a family and I'm just disappointed that
00:24we all have to move out all of a sudden and we don't even have anywhere to stay.
00:28Residents have been told they'll need to vacate their homes by October, with the lease due
00:33to end.
00:34We are really worried what exactly is going to happen during the time when they close
00:40the Yissa.
00:41So I'm asking out there if someone, any government would be able to help us.
00:49The NT government has revealed it offered the owner, Ausco, $3 million for the buildings
00:55and the option to waive property restoration costs.
00:58But the government says the company wants between $8 and $12 million.
01:03Yissa's CEO says the closure is already displacing vulnerable people, with the government suddenly
01:09ordering the service to stop accepting new residents.
01:12We have 300 people consistently on our wait list, so the demand for our service is really
01:19significant and ongoing.
01:21Salipa, who's lived at Yissa for almost three years, is on dialysis and is desperate for someone
01:27to help.
01:28Prime Minister, I'm appealing to you, come here to Yissa and help these homeless people.
01:36The NT government says it's assessing alternative accommodation options and insists that nobody
01:43will be left on the streets.
01:44But homelessness advocates are sceptical when there's a housing crisis and homelessness
01:50services are at capacity.
01:52Most of our people have been waiting for 10 years with their housing, NT housing, they're
01:58dead and gone.
01:59We've buried them.
02:00The best outcome for us and the residents would be for Ausco to maybe donate those assets.
02:05In a statement, Ausco says it's disappointed about recent public comments regarding negotiations
02:12and is working hard to reach a commercial outcome that is fair to all parties.
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