Page 885 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018
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dedicated affordable home purchase and land rent, and 34 dwellings are for community housing, all important additions to our housing stock.
The land rent scheme is one thing that I think is particularly noteworthy. This scheme allows householders to rent their land from the government rather than buy it outright. In doing so, it removes substantial barriers to entry and reduces the borrowing requirements that Canberrans face. It is just one example of the many schemes and programs that this government has introduced to address housing affordability.
On top of this, the government is currently renewing 1,288 older public housing properties to better meet the needs of the tenants. This includes approximately $50 million to renew the public housing at Gowrie Court in Narrabundah to be a culturally appropriate centre for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our community. On top of this, our government is developing a new housing strategy, and introducing measures such as the affordable home purchase database and the new innovation fund which will make housing in the ACT more affordable and accessible. This will all be in conjunction with other state governments and the federal government through the national housing and homelessness agreement. This includes the almost $20 million that our government is investing in homelessness support services in our community.
Finally, I call on the government to continue to evaluate and build on our current housing affordability measures. In new developments across our city we must ensure that there remain affordable options for low income Canberrans and first homebuyers. We must respond to community feedback and reflect the needs of Canberrans. In particular, we need to hear the concerns of marginalised Canberrans who are in housing stress. We must adequately address their needs to ensure that no Canberran is without the security that a home provides.
Tackling housing affordability is a huge issue in our country and in our city. I call on this government, our ACT Labor government, to continue to work with other states, territories and the federal government to come up with a comprehensive housing affordability scheme.
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (5.47): Mr Pettersson’s motion is a bit curious, when you have a government member coming in here to talk about the success of their government with regard to housing affordability. There is perhaps a more sinister motive than not being aware of the real struggles that so many households are facing. It could be that he does not actually believe that the government is going to release a new housing strategy this year. Surely, if the housing minister announces that there will be a housing strategy released by the end of the year, she does not need another motion to say that there should be a housing strategy released this year.
If Mr Pettersson wants to contemplate some things with regard to housing in Canberra, he might like to consider this government’s management of public housing, in particular, managing the leaseholders. Mr Pettersson might also like to consider the debilitating taxes and rates imposed by this government on Canberrans who choose to buy a unit as their first home. Let us not forget the huge embedded lease variation
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