Page 3361 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 21 August 2018
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anticipated affordable housing strategy will provide some greater direction and some greater funding to improve housing outcomes and to better serve the needs of people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the government’s injection of $6½ million over four years for front-line homelessness services and to extend the operating hours of OneLink. Despite the government’s claims in the budget papers that this funding would produce 36 places at front-line shelters—I innocently thought this would translate into 36 additional accommodation places—it was disappointing to hear from CSD officials that the 36 was an estimate based on the funding for the sector to employ additional staff to undertake intensive case management for 36 individuals or families at any one time. I am not really sure what, if anything, it does from the point of view of beds. But I am also very pleased that the government is allocating a much-needed investment of $5.7 million to extend the successful energy efficiency improvement scheme to Housing ACT properties.
There are a number of other positives, including the housing innovation fund. I was very interested to hear Minister Berry’s discussion, in question time today, of where the money from that has gone to. I refer also to funding for the development of MyHome, which is likely to be in Curtin, in my electorate. I am very positive about the work that is being done by the community there. I think this is, and hopefully will continue to be, an outstanding example of community and government cooperation for the good of all Canberrans. There is also, as I mentioned earlier, the work overseen by Minister Gentleman on housing choices.
Overall, though, I am afraid that the housing components of the budget, not to mention the government’s response to many of the estimates committee’s recommendations, represent pretty much a business as usual approach to this very needy, difficult portfolio area.
The most glaring gap in the budget is the lack of funding for, or in fact any action on, a new supply of affordable rental housing, both for social housing tenants and for people who would not be eligible for social housing but who are struggling in Canberra’s very expensive private rental market. As I noted here three weeks ago, Canberra has the dubious distinction of sharing equal first place with Sydney in having the highest rents in the private rental market. We also have the highest proportion of people living in the private rental market who are still in housing stress, even after they have received commonwealth rent assistance.
Mr Coe usefully referenced Anglicare’s survey of the availability—or otherwise, in the ACT’s case—of affordable private rental. There simply is not affordable private rental for people who are on minimum wages with family or people on Centrelink. I have to wholeheartedly agree with Mr Coe that this is a significant problem that we as a community are failing to adequately address.
In this context I welcome the government’s response to recommendation 127, which is a commitment to provide detail on the rationale for future targets for public and community housing dwelling sites. I have to say that the rationale is very unclear at this stage. Basically, there should be more of it.
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