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Kalano after the floods
MENU Kalano after the floods 24 March 2026 The recent flooding has had a significant impact on Kalano, with a number of our properties and
24 March 2026
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Our Work
Mark Yingiya Guyula MLA
Ngaliwurru-Wuli Aboriginal Corporation used their grant to send board members to a governance training course.
There are approximately 100 in the Northern Territory
Remote Aboriginal communities
First emerging in the 1970s, there are now 43 town camps in the Territory
Benefits of belonging
AHNT members control the organisation. The members elect the directors; the directors govern; and the staff manage the operations.
The members are all Aboriginal-controlled organisations. Members can nominate representatives who joins the board of directors for a two-year term.
We host two formal members’ meetings each year.
We are open to hearing from members at any time – their experiences, questions, concerns, feedback, suggestions and ideas. Listening to our members ensures that we have a good view of the sector and can best represent it in our advocacy and policy work.
Sector strengthening
AHNT staff keep in touch with members to share news of Aboriginal housing and the broader contexts in which it is provided, managed and experienced.
We compile research reports, strategies, policies and other papers about Aboriginal housing. And we provide various ways to keep up with what’s happening in the field. We also:
- host conferences and other forums for networking and exchange, and
- arrange workshops to support Aboriginal housing organisations to grow stronger.
Successful programs
AHNT administered a small grants program that strengthened the Aboriginal community housing sector. Other successful projects include:
- Ngurratjuta Aboriginal Corporation used their grant to engage a consultant to support their process of registering under NRSCH
- Wilya Janta used grant to support a Warumungu trip to Central Arnhem to see some houses that were self-built by community members in the 1980s and to talk about good design for climate and culture
Advocating for change
Aboriginal housing in the Northern Territory is a complex niche sector. To realise our vision we develop good policy and encourage governments and other stakeholders to embrace it.
Decent housing is a foundation for every other part of life: health, education, employment and so on. The policy landscape is broad and densely interwoven. For this aspect of our work we collaborate with APO NT, land councils, researchers and consultants.
Media releases
Our broadcast comms
Our public communications celebrate members’ success and other exemplary work in the Aboriginal housing sector, and call for support for initiatives and campaigns.
media release
AHNT Drawing on the Strength of the Homelands Sector Report 2026
MENU AHNT Drawing on the Strength of the Homelands Sector Report 2026 The Northern Territory Government funded AHNT to consult with the homeland sector and
19 March 2026
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Keynote Speakers for the 2026 AHNT Housing & Homelands Conference
MENU Housing & Homelands Conference 2026 – Keynote Speakers Leeanne CatonCEO Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory (AHNT) Leeanne Caton is the Chief Executive Officer of Aboriginal
17 March 2026
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Collaboration & strong relationships
A strong system of Aboriginal housing demands strong relationships. We cultivate genuine, collaborative partnerships with other peak bodies, land councils, governments, research organisations, and key stakeholders such as the Northern Territory registrar of the National Regulatory System for Community Housing (NRSCH).
We collaborate with Territory and Commonwealth governments, through the Joint Steering Committee on remote Aboriginal housing and its working groups, and we have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NT Shelter and Menzies School of Health Research to advocate for the rights and interests of Aboriginal people and organisations.
We are connected
Aside from members of AHNT, below are organisations we are associated with..
Northern Territory
- Aboriginal Investment NT
- Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the Northern Territory (APO NT)
- Anindilyakwa Land Council (ALC)
- Central Land Council (CLC)
- Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR)
- Centre for Appropriate Technology (CfAT) and its bush tech archive
- Contractor Accreditation Limited (CAL) – the NT’s scheme for accrediting contractors in the building and industry
- Desert Knowledge Research Institute
- Menzies – School of Health Research
- Northern Land Council (NLC)
- Northern Territory Council of Social Service (NTCOSS)
- Northern Territory Government departments of families, housing and communities (TFHC), homeland services and infrastructure, planning and land (DIPL)
- Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network (NTIBN)
- NT Shelter
- Shelter Me – for accommodation and support services in the NT
- Tiwi Land Council (TLC)
Broader-focused orgs
- Assemble Papers – better, fairer system changes
- Australian Government department of housing
- Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) Indigenous perspectives
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) determinants of health for Indigenous Australians
- Australian Human Rights Commission / Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
- Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR)
- Coalition of Peaks
- Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA)
- Council to Homeless Persons
- First Nations Clean Energy Network
- Grattan Institute – makes high-quality public policy recommendations for Australia’s future
- Healthabitat – housing for health
- Healthy Environments and Lives network (HEAL) – an Indigenous research network
- Homelessness Australia
- Housing for Health Incubator – a research body tackling the challenge of decent Indigenous housing and infrastructure
- Indigenous Research Data Commons
- Lowitja Institute – Aboriginal community-controlled health research institute
- Menzies School of Health Research
- National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA)
- National Regulatory System for Community Housing (NRSCH) – registers community housing providers ensuring compliance with the National Regulatory Code.
- National Shelter
- Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC)
- Original Power
- Supply Nation – host of a verified directory of Indigenous businesses
- Water Aid
National & State Aboriginal housing orgs
- Aboriginal Community Housing Industry Association (ACHIA) – New South Wales
- Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland (ATSIHQ)
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association (NATSIHA)
- Noongar Mia Mia – Western Australia
- SEARMS Community Housing Aboriginal Corporation (SEARMS) – South Eastern New South Wales
- South Australian Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation Network (SAACCON)
Tickets are now on sale for the 2026 Aboriginal Housing and Homelands Conference. A highlight of our calendar, the conference will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton on the Esplanade in Darwin on May 20 and 21 2026. Use the link to register for tickets and use this opportunity to supply abstracts to speak at the conference.
We have an impressive line-up of keynote speakers growing so this prove to be a landmark event. With the focus on the sector and the levels of investments available we are looking forward to engaging with our members, partners and government contacts to share the landmarks of the past two years, looking forward to the progress we are making into the future.
Past Conferences
In April 2023 we hosted the inaugural conference on Larrakia country, in Garramilla (Darwin) – see the report (PDF, 3mb). In 2024 our second conference was in Mparntwe (Alice Springs).
With many esteemed keynote speakers we heard from people with knowledge and experience of:
- Aboriginal-led design and construction
- water security
- homelessness
- shelter for preventing violence against women and youth
- good design (climatically and culturally)
- sector strengthening
- homelands
- community living areas and town camps
