Page 1544 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
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Again, what are the government doing in this regard? They are the monopoly owner of the land for sale in the ACT. They control and operate the land planning and regulatory regime for the use and disposal of land in the ACT. The affordability of housing in Canberra is directly related to the high cost of government fees and charges which we all know are going up over and over again. Under the current ACT Labor-Greens government, everyday Canberrans are paying these higher fees, these higher charges, these higher rates. It is what people speak to me about all the time. These higher fees, higher charges and higher rates will increase even more for everyday Canberrans as a result of the government’s light rail.
Housing affordability has a range of wide-reaching impacts. It is linked to housing stress. Housing stress is described as follows:
… a situation where the cost of housing (either as rental, or as a mortgage) is high relative to household income. It may also be used to describe inadequate housing for a proportion of the population.
Housing stress has a range of detrimental impacts on a person, including financial pressures and impacts on mental health and wellbeing. Sometimes we talk about the social determinants of health, and housing is one of those social determinants of health. Housing stress and housing crisis have an impact on people’s health and wellbeing.
What is the government doing? What is the ACT government doing to help members of our community who are facing housing stress? They are pushing up prices, because that is what they want: more money from the sale of their land. The ACT government had their own affordable housing action plan, released in 2007, which they appear to have put on the shelf and ignored pretty much since them. The aim of the affordable housing action plan was:
… to support the supply of affordable housing and to ensure that all individuals, irrespective of circumstances, are able to access accommodation suitable to their needs.
As a general rule, housing is considered and defined as affordable if it costs less than 30 per cent of gross household income. If you are paying 50 per cent or more of your gross household income in housing costs, either rent or mortgage, you are considered to be in housing crisis, and that means you are at risk of homelessness. The impacts go on and on, and the health and wellbeing impacts go on and on.
I am sure I do not need to remind those opposite—although I am going to remind you nevertheless—that in a CityNews article published on 17 June last year former Chief Minister Jon Stanhope nominated his greatest frustration or regret while Chief Minister as the lack of action on housing affordability, land planning and supply. That was his single greatest regret as Chief Minister.
My motion today is calling on the government to actually put some steps in place to fully implement the measures of the affordable housing action plan, to provide the
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