Page 1378 - Week 04 - Thursday, 30 March 2017
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B, with two children under 10? Not a single resident. They are locked out of the market completely.
How about a couple on an age pension? How many affordable properties for them? Not one in Yerrabi, one in Ginninderra, one in Kurrajong, two in Murrumbidgee and one in Brindabella. There were only five properties across the entire ACT that were deemed affordable to a couple on the age pension.
I know that those on the other side have said that this is a national issue and the problem is the same everywhere. I understand that prices are rising elsewhere but let us have a look at the same Anglicare rental survey which showed that there were only five properties across the entire ACT that were affordable to a pair of pensioners. There were 50 properties deemed affordable in little old Queanbeyan in the same survey; 50 as opposed to five here.
Allhomes reported on their blog site back in May:
… an ACT postcode can double the price of land.
They compared land prices in Googong and Tralee with similar land in greenfield developments in the ACT, and the average land price is, indeed, around twice as high here in the ACT, bearing in mind that this government has control of the levers.
I am the first to admit that in the public housing space I am on a steep learning curve. I do not put myself forward as an expert in the space. When we are talking about housing affordability, we are talking essentially about two portfolios: planning and housing. It has been very clear to me that the solutions to our problems in this area are to be found in the area of planning. I do not pretend that they are easy solutions, because they are not.
Planning levers can address the problems. Housing levers can only stem the bleeding. And I say that with all respect to those in public housing and, as a former public housing resident, I am just talking about assessing the problem. When we assess the size of the housing waiting lists, when we consider how long many are on those lists, I think it is very clear that there is a lot of bleeding.
I think that the biggest reason for the problem here is that private market housing has become unaffordable for a massive section of our city; that Jon Stanhope was right when he said that we failed. I note that we are speaking on this matter today, the day on which the Chief Minister spoke to the Assembly this morning regarding the dismantling of the Land Development Agency as we know it. We look forward to the new City Renewal Authority and the Suburban Land Agency. I optimistically hope that these agencies can better serve all Canberrans.
I also note with similar optimism that Ms Le Couteur as chair of the planning and urban renewal committee spoke in this place this morning regarding the committee inquiry into many aspects of housing in the ACT. I genuinely look forward to watching this process and to reading and hearing the conclusions. I think as we
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