Page 252 - Week 01 - Thursday, 10 February 2022
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We have a very strong record around that and we are trialling new approaches to improve the quality of our waterways. That includes things like floating garden beds which can suck up nutrients out of the lake, trialling the use of those, and new methods and approaches that might help us to improve the quality in lakes like Lake Tuggeranong, for example, and Yerrabi Pond.
These projects are ongoing. You only have to look at the very significant investment that we have made over many budgets in these areas to know that we are serious about this. Of course, we continue the general maintenance of our waterways as well, including our lakes and ponds, and all of the work that we do to clean up our GPTs.
Housing—affordability
MR PETTERSSON: My question is to the Minister for Housing and Suburban Development. Minister, how is the government promoting affordable housing through the Ginninderry joint venture?
MS BERRY: I thank Mr Pettersson for his question. The Ginninderry joint venture is delivering some lovely homes for Canberrans. There are already more than 800 people living in Strathnairn, and across the territory the ACT government has committed to ensuring that there are diverse options and a range of housing for Canberrans. The Ginninderry joint venture contributes to that vision by offering a range of affordable housing options. Last year, Ginninderry released the flexi-living homes. Flexi-living homes offer a really great choice in sizes and configurations to suit different lifestyles, tastes and budgets. They are available to people who currently do not own a property and who meet the income eligibility requirements.
At the start of this year Ginninderry announced a really exciting new project to deliver even more options, the rent-to-buy program. The joint initiative involves Ginninderry, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation—NHFIC—and Community Housing Canberra. Through an MOU, Ginninderry is working with these organisations to make sure that ownership is a reality for more vulnerable Canberrans in Ginninderry.
MR PETTERSSON: Minister, how will the new build-to-rent-to-buy program work, and which groups in our community stand to benefit from this initiative?
MS BERRY: Thank you for the supplementary question. The rent-to-buy program is aimed at giving vulnerable women a path to home ownership. The housing initiative aims to provide women with low but secure employment incomes, often with little or no deposit, access to safe, secure and affordable homes with a built-in pathway to home ownership. The initiative targets vulnerable and elderly women’s housing needs and explores affordable pathways to home ownership for at-risk women.
Women aged 55 and over are the fastest-growing cohort of those at risk of homelessness. A 2021 survey by Equity Economics found that there were 240,000 women aged 55 and over at risk of homelessness, and a further 165,000 women aged 45 to 54 at risk of homelessness. Of course, there is more work to be done to develop
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