Page 3259 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 October 2022
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In addition, the continued investment in the growing and renewal program, which aims to renew and replace our social housing stock, is essential, as we see increasing demand for social housing. The reality is that much of our public housing stock is ageing.
The ACT government is committed to working in partnership with the community sector to ensure that all Canberrans receive the support they need. The 2022-23 budget provides support to a wide range of community organisations to ensure that the community sector can continue to provide essential services and programs so that Canberrans can get the support they need. This budget also recognises that there has been an increase in the complex needs of people, particularly those accessing homelessness services in the ACT.
The parliamentary and governing agreement for the Tenth Legislative Assembly details the provision of an additional $18 million to expand the capacity of the ACT specialist homelessness sector over the next four years. In each budget since I was elected, the ACT government has been delivering increased funding to support the specialist homelessness sector to undertake this important work. Through this time we have been working closely with the sector to identify needs, increase the number of services and increase the level of base funding for services working in this area.
This has been some of the most significant investment in the sector in a decade. This budget builds on these investments that we have been providing as we move through the pandemic, as well as continuing the significant new services that were developed through the COVID-19 pandemic.
This includes investing approximately $1.879 million in additional funding to expand the capacity of specialist homelessness services, including continued support for those programs that commenced operation during the pandemic. These programs cover crisis accommodation, transitional housing, support for rough sleepers and clients with high and complex needs, and specialist mental health support.
As Minister Berry outlined, they are evidence based and support approaches, such as Housing First. From meeting with the organisations providing some of these new services, as well as working with others in the sector, I know that they are very well supported additions to the service system.
The successful implementation of these initiatives demonstrates what can be achieved through strong collaboration between government and the sector in applying strategic partnership principles to design and deliver targeted, client-focused and flexible support that can meet emerging needs.
A well-performing sector requires investment and support to ensure that services are able to work in an integrated manner. This budget provides $1.55 million in enhancements to the Specialist Homelessness Information Platform, known as SHIP, and continues to work with the specialist homelessness sector to develop a shared practice framework and tools.
These enhancements will support improved homelessness accommodation vacancy management and ensure greater data collection capacity, including for subsectors like
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