A member of the Northern Territory Labor Government has hit out at the Territory Housing Department, saying people in the remote Indigenous community of Haasts Bluff are paying rent for "shocking" homes that are not fit to live in.

NT politician Scott McConnell has spoken out about the living conditions. ( ABC News: Nick Hose )

Scott McConnell made the comments about his electorate on a recent visit to Haasts Bluff, 227 kilometres west of Alice Springs, where he said people should not be paying rent for what he called substandard housing.

They are the strongest statements the MLA has made on his own Government's delivery of remote housing.

Mr McConnell said since quitting his role as assistant minister for remote housing delivery last month he felt freer to speak out.

"The things that we have seen today are quite shocking, and we have to do better than this," he said.

"I wouldn't be paying for it, I don't think these people — my constituents — should be paying rent on some of the properties we've seen."

Makeshift beds have been built outside this house in an effort to combat overcrowding. ( ABC News: Nick Hose )

At a community meeting with Mr McConnell, Haasts Bluff residents raised concerns about chronic overcrowding, leaking roofs, failing electricity, broken air-conditioners, and overflowing raw sewage, which they feared was causing illness among residents.

Traditional owner Douglas Multa said the conditions in his house had become so bad that he and his wife had to move out of their home, even though he said they still paid a combined rent of $20,000 each year.

"I'm paying rent for a home I can't live in," Mr Multa said.

Traditional owner Douglas Multa is still paying rent for a house he moved out of. ( ABC News: Nick Hose )

It was a similar story for Alice Nampitjinpa, who shares her two-bedroom home with 12 people, including the local pastor who sleeps on a makeshift bed made of tyres and timber crates.

"I'm having a problem with sewage, it's building up all the time because of overcrowding, then it overflows," Ms Nampitjinpa said.

Alice Nampitjinpa shares her two bedroom house in Haasts Bluff with 12 people. ( ABC News: Nick Hose )

Disease outbreak could be linked to sewage

Jillian Kantawarra has been an Aboriginal health worker in Haasts Bluff for 28 years, and said raw sewage could be the cause of a recent diarrhea outbreak.

"Some kids came in sick with diarrhea," she said.

"And that affects all the families, once they come into the clinic [sick] then the next person comes in, everyone came in with the same problem," Ms Kantawarra said.

Health worker Jillian Kantawarra sleeps on this verandah with her mother Anmanari Napanangka, 73. ( ABC News: Nick Hose )

Haasts Bluff is the latest Indigenous community in Central Australia to complain that the NT Department of Housing is charging rent for substandard homes.

Some people in other communities have even tried taking their complaints against Territory Housing to court.

At their meeting, the Haasts Bluff residents called on Territory Housing to visit the community and perform an audit before the end of the year, and to complete the most urgent repairs before Christmas.

Mr McConnell backed that call, and said he suspected the sewerage problems in Haasts Bluff were caused by a system that wasn't designed for overcrowded homes.

He said the community needed new houses.

A broken air conditioning unit causes flooding on this verandah. ( ABC News: Nick Hose )

Before the 2016 election, Labor promised to spend $110 million each year on remote housing, including $20 million per year on its Room to Breathe program adding extra rooms to existing homes, as well as $50 million per year on new housing.

"This community's not been touched by Room to Breathe, and there is so much more work to do," Mr McConnell said.

"We've been in government for 15 months, the need in this community has been critical for many years; we need to do better than this.

"All of the other spends that we do are pointless unless people have quality homes to live in."

A community meeting in Haasts Bluff to discuss housing. ( ABC News: Nick Hose )

Mr McConnell said he would like to see more details from his Government about how it would deliver its remote housing promise, including where the money would be spent and how communities like Haasts Bluff would benefit.

"People have been really holding their hopes out for our very good policy," he said.

"Our policy to deliver to remote Indigenous housing is excellent, people just want to see it happen on the ground."

The NT Government said once negotiations over a lease at Haasts Bluff were finalised, it would deliver new housing works, but it did not detail what the community would receive.