Page 1971 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video


includes two developments already completed by the public housing renewal task force in Monash and Chisholm and a third site is under construction at Nicholls.

The ACT government is also building and purchasing replacement sites on other sites throughout Canberra and, while there are no current proposals for public housing to be developed on other community facilities zoned sites, we are seeking out sites for public housing in new as well as established suburbs.

Consistent with our goal of spreading public housing more evenly throughout this city, we are providing new public housing in suburbs close to Northbourne Avenue, whilst also delivering public housing in other areas of the ACT from Gungahlin all the way through to Tuggeranong. By developing a mix of public housing types in a range of locations, we are supporting tenants from all walks of life with their different needs.

The spread of replacement public housing across our city also supports us in delivering lower density public housing. We are providing a mix of freestanding homes, small groups of townhouses and units and compact homes. The small groups of public housing we are delivering are significantly smaller than the existing multiunit concentrations of hundreds of public housing dwellings in single complexes.

The public housing renewal task force has been working to identify possible locations for replacement public housing dwellings over several years. There has been a process of continual analysis and refinement of possible locations. During this time a large number of sites on territory-owned land have been considered. The process has required assessment of opportunities and constraints for each of those sites, and this includes zoning and planning requirements, proximity to existing public housing, proximity to services and amenities, site features including slope and any other uses for the site that may have been identified.

There is also extensive due diligence work undertaken to check whether these sites are suitable for particular types of development. This includes a range of studies such as traffic assessments. Many of the sites were not considered suitable to progress at the time and information about them has not been distributed. The process that we undertake to find the most suitable land is not about secrecy. It is common for any proposed new development to be considered and all options refined and then made available in furthering that development.

The ACT government rigorously assessed all options available before selecting these sites which are suitable and appropriate to discuss with the community. Over the past few weeks we have actively sought community feedback which is continuing to shape the design, layout and style of the homes that we would like to build for some of our most vulnerable Canberrans. Our conversations about these sites on community facilities zoned land are ongoing. There have been and continue to be regular, facilitated engagement sessions with community groups and self-selected representatives from each community. The ACT government is responding to the feedback that we are getting from these groups.

These discussions have been very productive and outcomes of these meetings have been distributed to the broader community through site-specific communiques and


Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video