Page 1565 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2017
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MR PETTERSSON: Minister, what feedback have you had from the housing sector on these new dwellings?
MS BERRY: The Public Housing Renewal Program Task Force has received feedback from builders involved in the program about the high standards required for construction projects through this program. Several builders have reported back to the task force that their prior perceptions of product quality have shifted significantly during the course of their involvement in this process. Many of the builders working on renewal sites have commented that they believe the quality of construction is higher than that found in the private sector.
Certainly, this seems to be reflected in the feedback from public housing tenants, who are much happier in their new homes. A tenant who had been living in his Northbourne Avenue home for over a decade reflected on his recent move when speaking recently to the media:
It was time to go. They had nothing going for them. They were old, dilapidated, run down.
This tenant, choosing to stay in the city’s inner north and now living in Braddon, was very happy with his new apartment with two bedrooms and a balcony facing out onto nearby parkland:
This was the first place that they showed me, and I don’t think it is going to get any better.
The Master Builders Association ACT in their submission on the 2016-17 budget consultation process called on the ACT government to maintain and increase if possible the current renewal program for public housing with new public housing stock.
MR PARTON: Minister, in regard to those developments, the community understanding of salt and pepper public housing is just like salt and pepper—a grain here and a grain there. Why do not your plans meet those expectations?
Mr Gentleman: Point of order, Madam Speaker; preamble.
MADAM SPEAKER: Point of order?
Mr Gentleman: Preamble.
MADAM SPEAKER: Can you repeat the question, Mr Parton, mindful of no preamble?
MR PARTON: Why do not those developments meet the community expectations of salt and pepper public housing?
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