Katherine is preparing for an influx of visitors as bio-security zone restrictions lift at noon on Friday.
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Bio-security areas have been closed since March 26 with residents of remote areas unable to visit town to shop and visit family.
For these reasons social service providers in close contact with remote communities are expecting many will seize the opportunity this long weekend.
A new safe-stay facility in Darwin will open Friday to supply 50 extra beds for those visiting from remote areas.
Yet in Katherine it's business as usual despite a homelessness rate 31 times the national average.
While emergency or relief housing exists for young or elderly clients, Katherine remains without any free short-stay accommodation for 20-55 years olds.
The Katherine Individual Support Program administered by Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service exists because of the strong link between social problems such as housing and severe health issues.
Thomasin Opie from the NT Legal Aid Commission provides legal support for KISP clients.
She says the lack of relief housing in Katherine leads to an array of health and legal issues despite the improvements made by the collaboration.
"There will be people forced to live transiently, and we do fear for their well-being because Katherine doesn't have anywhere for them to stay," Mrs Opie said.
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"Housing is a health issue, plain and simple.
"People unable to access safe and stable housing often experience a host of other social, legal and medical issues as a result.
"Overcrowding of existing houses also carries its own set of issues which would be also be alleviated by having short-term stay options available.
"Some people won't have anywhere to stay and while they'll receive support, as it stands we can't keep them safe," she said.
Salvation Army Doorways Hub senior case manager Dean Jones has perhaps the strongest contact with transient community-members of anyone in town.
They provided tents and other camping gear to such people on Monday but say there's no substitute for proper housing.
"People haven't been able to leave their communities for a long time so they will take up the opportunity," he said.
"Darwin getting their visitor's centre is fantastic, but Katherine has the highest per-capita homeless population in Australia," he said.
"We are expecting to deal with a higher number of clients and issues from overcrowding with the bio-security zones opening," he said.
Anglicare NT is the primary provider of medium-stay housing in Katherine, and CEO Dave Pugh says there are government plans in the works to provide short-term options in Katherine.
Instead of a visiting centre, he says the government is planning to broker with existing accommodation facilities such as motels to provide relief beds in town.
Mr Pugh moved to calm any concern about this coming weekend, however, reminding residents of the good which an influx will bring to the town.
"It's true that Katherine doesn't have that transition housing and hasn't received any support for this weekend, but i don't think there needs to be a great deal of fear," he said.
"Lets face it, the prices for goods in remote communities is incredibly high, so these people are coming in to buy from local shops and I think residents should be very excited about that.
"It's important to note many of these people prefer to be camping - here in Darwin about half of those surveyed said they didn't want to move into traditional housing.
"You will also have a lot of people leaving town who have been sleeping rough because they can't get home," Mr Pugh said.
Beswick residents Donald and Doreen Nuddjuanga fall into the latter category, having been stuck sleeping rough in Katherine East because they didn't feel prepared to quarantine for 14 days in order to return home.
They said this weekend is important to Indigenous people suffering without contact with their families.
"I've been crying every night to see my children," Doreen said. "I just want to go back to Beswick now, but I don't think I would have been happy doing the quarantine."
"Our kids are worrying about us a lot," Donald said.
"We have been trying to get some proper place to stay here but we can't, so instead we have been staying in the grass behind the sporting ovals.
"We know the bio-security areas have kept Indigenous people safe but it is a big relief for us to be able to see one another again and stay somewhere with family," he said.
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