Page 3986 - Week 12 - Thursday, 20 October 2005
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The secondly strategy was about encouraging partnerships. The use of public-private partnerships has been limited. There is also a lack of clarity about how these partnerships are negotiated to ensure that the benefit to the community warrants public investment. The third was about improving access to private rental housing. The only ACT government initiative in this area is the rental bonds housing assistance program that has assisted 111 people since it was introduced in July 2003.
The fourth strategy was about support for home ownership. The primary mechanism for supporting home ownership in the ACT has been the home buyer concession scheme, which has not been subject to any cost-benefit analysis. The only other initiative has been the moderate income land ballot, which has had a poor uptake and provides limited benefits to purchasers.
The fifth strategy was about use of the planning system. There has been little progress against planning system recommendations since 2002. In particular, the commitment in the social plan to introduce inclusionary zoning has not been implemented, despite considerable effort by the Greens to bring it about. The sixth was about raising awareness. The report contains no evidence of enhanced community or industry awareness in relation to affordable housing. The final strategy concerned aspects of implementation. The ACT government has failed to deliver commitments made in its response to the strategies in action report, including a commitment to consider making a housing statement part of the 2004-05 budget.
Apart from these specific strategies, the progress report makes a number of assertions that are without basis and may be deliberately misleading. For example, the report suggests that there has been a decrease in housing stress since 2002. However, this contradicts the views that community groups have provided to government in submissions and public forums, which indicate that housing stress is increasing rather than decreasing.
A national survey of community service organisations conducted by ACOSS in late 2003 found that housing service providers reported an increase in the number of people seeking assistance, being assisted, and receiving assistance due to lack of service capacity. Furthermore, the Australian Bureau of Statistics recently released the results of the 2003-04 household expenditure study, suggesting that housing costs have increased more than household income. This data could be used to estimate levels of housing stress in the ACT if the ACT government chose to commission such an analysis.
The progress report also fails to mention that the government made a clear commitment to release an implementation plan to accompany its final response to the recommendations of the affordable housing task force, following the negotiation on the commonwealth-state housing agreement in 2003. Two years after that agreement was signed, no implementation plan has been developed and the government has resisted calls from community groups and the ACT Greens to produce one.
This report, along with other progress reports produced by this government, is no substitute for a properly constructed implementation plan to guide and coordinate activity across multiple government and non-government agencies. Progress reports continually refer to the future strategies in affordable housing but provide no clear
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .