Page 2573 - Week 08 - Thursday, 14 August 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
providing $1.52 million. As we have discussed in this place previously, unfortunately the commonwealth’s commitment only extends, at this point in time, for this current financial year. We are hopeful that the commonwealth will continue to play a role, working in partnership with the states and territories, and that this national partnership can be extended in the years ahead.
Some other highlights of the budget include funding for the better human services gateway, funding for Common Ground construction, and a series of allocations to support the construction of dwellings to enable older public housing tenants to relocate into more suitable accommodation, as well as the construction of additional dwellings to house older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in more culturally appropriate accommodation. Older persons accommodation will be built to at least the gold-level liveable design standard or better, to achieve at least a six-star energy rating and to contain a range of energy and water efficient appliances. This program of works in this coming fiscal year is the largest, I understand, since the global financial crisis.
Looking more broadly at the ACT housing market, in assuming this portfolio and now having responsibility for housing across the board—public, community and private housing—I have indicated my desire to seek to boost the supply of housing in the territory.
In the context of public housing, there was a period where the previous Liberal government, prior to 2001, were running down our public housing numbers. They fell as low as 11,454, when we took office in December 2001. We have been progressively building that number back up. Over the next period, it would be great to get that number back above 12,000. We are well on our way to that target, supported by the funding that was made available to the states and territories during the economic stimulus, supported by the commonwealth government. That, together with a range of investments by the ACT government and our future program of asset renewal within the public housing system, aims to continue to grow public housing stock in the city.
We also wish to continue to work with our community housing partners, particularly CHC, Argyle and others, to continue to add to the supply of community housing in the city. In the private market, we continue to work with industry associations like the MBA and the HIA to add to supply. That addition to supply in recent times has made a big difference in our marketplace.
I was just checking online, and the latest data out of SQM is that weekly house rents in the ACT have fallen by nearly 17 per cent in the last three years, which is a saving of around $120 a week or over $6,000 a year for those renting houses in the territory. Weekly unit rents have fallen by 12.1 per cent in the last three years. In terms of purchase prices, houses are 11½ per cent cheaper now than they were three years ago, and units are 10.6 per cent cheaper than they were. So this significant increase in supply has resulted in downward pressure on house prices and rents in the city, making housing more affordable—in the context of renting houses, by nearly 17 per cent or $120 a week.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video