Page 411 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 10 February 2021
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Second, we are asking the government to investigate introducing a rent supplementation lease arrangement, which has been underway in Victoria, where the government could undertake bulk auctions of long-term leases to CHPs and the supplement would serve as an incentive for institutional investors to partner with them.
Third, the government can provide a lot of certainty by immediately extending the head leases on properties let to CHPs for, say, up to 20 years, which is exactly what they did in New South Wales. I believe that that part of this motion has not even been mentioned in the amendments. It is one of the easiest things, one that could be done tomorrow, and it would instantly provide certainty to these community housing providers moving forward.
Finally, we think the government should consider more extensive land tax exemptions and rates rebates to landholders who lease to CHTs. We understand that this is addressed in the amendment, but we think it should be even more extensive.
In closing, whatever the government is doing in this space is not working. The Labor-Greens coalition should be open to considering new policy options, and that is why I am putting this motion forward here today. I firmly believe that it is the job of the opposition not only to hold the government to account but also to provide genuine alternatives. That is what we are doing with this motion, and I hope the government—the Labor wing and the Greens wing—will take on board investigation of these proposals in good faith.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Education and Youth Affairs, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (3.49): I want to thank Mr Parton for bringing forward this motion today; it is a very important issue. I always enjoy the conversations that we have around housing and homelessness in the ACT, particularly on the support that the ACT government provides to people experiencing chronic homelessness in the ACT.
First, I want to move the amendment that I have circulated. I move:
Omit all words after “(1) Notes” and substitute:
“(a) that while the ACT is one of Australia’s most affordable jurisdictions to rent and buy a home on measures based on average incomes, these higher than average incomes hide the challenges lower-income families face in the private rental market;
(b) data from CoreLogic shows the median weekly rent for houses in Canberra is $657, up 3.6 percent since 2019, while median weekly unit rents are $473.
(2) further notes:
(a) the ACT Housing Strategy released in 2018 is built on hundreds of community voices in a year-long consultation process and includes 74 short, medium and long-term actions to deliver;
(b) the Year 2 Report Card of the Housing Strategy was released today outlining the actions that have been taken over the last year, including
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