Page 1730 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 21 August 2007
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The key provisions of the strategy in this regard include an injection of equity of $40 million through the transfer of title of 135 properties, 132 of which are already under CHC’s control by way of a 20-year lease; the provision of land at market prices to enable CHC to increase the supply of dwellings; a revolving $50 million loan facility at government borrowing rates to support growth in the sector; the provision of $3.2 million capital to forward future developments and joint ventures; and transitional payments of up to $250,000 per year for three years. It does not sound like we are not doing much, does it? Mrs Burke has gone awfully quiet. Perhaps she is taking notes.
In addition to this, as I indicated, Housing ACT has transferred the titles of 132 properties to CHC under the 20-year lease. The transfer of these titles enables CHC to use them as equity or to trade the stock in order to meet growth targets established by government. Community Housing Canberra will use the equity, access to land and access to funds to develop 500 affordable dwellings over the next five years, increasing to more than 1,100 over the next 10 years. Those figures are worth repeating. There will be 500 affordable dwellings over the next five years, increasing to more than 1,100 over the next 10 years. Of these, Community Housing Canberra will retain around 250 dwellings for rental over five years, increasing to 470 over 10 years. The remaining dwellings will be sold to fund future developments by Community Housing Canberra and will add to the overall stock of affordable housing.
The governance of CHC and the achievements of these targets will be managed by a range of mechanisms that the government will move to introduce over the next six months. They include a regulatory framework in the form of legislation consistent with the national regulatory framework being developed under the auspices of national housing ministers; the appointment of three government members to the CHC board for an initial period; the loan agreement for the revolving finance facility through ACT Treasury; a deed for the transfer of the 132 properties; and the contract for the provision of the transitional funding.
Mr Speaker, you can see from these initiatives that the government is taking vigorous and groundbreaking steps to broaden community housing’s contribution to housing affordability in the ACT.
MR SPEAKER: Is there a supplementary question?
MS PORTER: Minister, do these changes meet the ACT’s obligations under the commonwealth-state housing agreement?
MR HARGREAVES: I thank Ms Porter for the supplementary question. Principle 11 of the commonwealth-state housing agreement explicitly calls for a comprehensive approach to the provision of affordable housing across all levels of government. The agreement also makes specific provision for the establishment and maintenance of viable community housing providers, such as in the case of the ACT, Community Housing Canberra, and the provision of funds or the transfer of assets to non-government organisations and local government for the purpose of providing housing assistance.
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