Page 3105 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 9 November 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The strategy’s third year of implementation has resulted in a range of positive outcomes, and I am pleased to be able to share those with you today. The Affordable Home Purchase Scheme continues to evolve, to respond to community need and market demand. The Suburban Land Agency’s affordable dwellings in Whitlam provide an excellent example of this. The offering will ultimately comprise 105 separately titled house and land packages. The scheme is being rolled out across multiple stages and demonstrates responsive delivery through measures such as mandating minimum bedroom numbers and offering a range of housing types, from apartments and townhouses through to house and land packages. A buyers guide was released in April 2021 to improve communication with prospective purchasers, and targeted marketing is also underway.
Additionally, the Affordable Community Housing Land Tax Exemption Program is continuing to increase the supply of affordable rental accommodation across the ACT, and I would encourage more landlords to participate in this worthwhile program. To further grow the program, we increased the maximum property cap from 125 to 250 late last year and have since removed the time limit associated with the program.
What is really important, though, is the feedback from participating community housing providers HomeGround and Rentwell about the tangible difference that the program is making in people’s lives. To demonstrate this, some of the tenants of HomeGround and Rentwell have shared some stories with us. I would like to mention a couple that stood out for me.
We will start with the family who, prior to the program, were living in unsuitable accommodation. The mother was studying to become a nurse; the father was a tradesman starting a small business. As a result of the program the family was able to settle into a townhouse and immediately flourished in their new surroundings. The mother has since graduated from university and now works full time, and the father has established his business. The family has since been able to purchase their own home, which has made way for a new family to reside in the rental property.
Then there is the story of a single mum with two children who escaped domestic abuse and travelled from Queensland to the ACT. She travelled this far to put distance between her and her abuser. Prior to entering the program, the family had been staying with friends in Canberra, but space was tight and the family was sharing a single room. As a result of the program they now have their own home, with plenty of space, and they are thriving in their new environment.
Progress also continues to be positive in relation to programs and initiatives being led by the Community Services Directorate. We continue to work collaboratively on strategic planning and partnership processes with the specialist homelessness sector, and this year we prepared and circulated a discussion paper and canvassed the views of the sector at a ministerial roundtable. The roundtable is one of the first key sector engagement activities as part of the strategic partnership planning process.
We have continued to invest in the array of specialist homelessness services for our Canberra community, including a further $1.9 million over two years for the Winter
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video