Page 320 - Week 01 - Thursday, 18 February 1993
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MINISTER FOR HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY QUESTION
QUESTION NO. 495
Housing Trust - Ex-Prisoner Tenants
MR. CORNWELL - asked the Minister for Housing and Community Services -In relation to remarks made by an officer of the ACT Housing Trust (The Canberra Times, November 28 at page 16) that: "We do have people just out of jail but we do not provide low cost accommodation. I dont say they get priority and it is not true to say that they get preferential treatment. But on social justice principles we cant turn them away." -
(1) How many ex-prisoners have been accommodated in Housing Trust
properties since March 1992 up to November 1992.
(2) Were all of these people ACT residents prior to being sent to prison.
(3) If not, how did they fulfil the six month residency requirement for allocation of ACT Housing Trust accommodation if, in the words of the Trust official, such people "were just out of jail";
(4) Is any consideration given to the suitability of ex-prisoners being accommodated in high rise or large Housing Trust complexes in view of the reason for their prison sentence, ie theft, rape, child molesting, etc.
(5) If, again in the words of the Trust official, "I dont say they get priority and it is not true to say they get preferential treatment", how are these people accommodated in the Trust accommodation when at March 1992 there were 5,775 applicants totalling approximately 13,514 people on the waiting list (answer to question on notice number 194) and that "People on the normal waiting list for Housing Trust accommodation are allocated a residence in the order that their registration is received". (Answer to question on notice number 246).
MR. CONNOLLY - The answer to the Members question is as follows:
(1) This information is not recorded.
(2) This information is not recorded.
(3) In order for people to register for public housing they must live and/or work in the ACT. As the ACT does not have a jail, ex-prisoners who lived and/or worked in the ACT prior to their imprisonment are deemed to have lived in the ACT during their imprisonment.
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