Page 1735 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 17 October 1989
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Two options for tenancy arrangements are proposed: firstly, head tenant arrangements where a community organisation assumes responsibility for the lease from the ACT Housing Trust and provides support to the residents; and, secondly, individual tenancies within the context of a group tenancy. The rental policy for the scheme will be based on that currently used by the Housing Trust. Each tenant will have individual responsibility to meet the conditions of the tenancy agreement and will have individual responsibility for his or her share of the total dwelling rent. The rent rebate formula used by the Housing Trust will apply. In effect, no individual will be required to pay more than 20 per cent of his or her gross income in rent.
The tenancy agreement will specify the conditions under which applicants will be granted tenancy of a dwelling. It will detail obligations in relation to payment of rent; authorised residents; use of the dwelling; vacation of rooms and dwelling; Housing Trust and tenant responsibility for care and maintenance of the dwelling and grounds; prohibited practices; tenants and landlord rights to access to the dwelling; and determination of lease by the tenants or landlord.
Each resident of a dwelling will have an individual rental account, except in cases of head tenancies. In cases where an individual persistently fails to meet rent obligations or otherwise breaches lease conditions, eviction action will proceed against the individual rather than all members of the household. The tenancy arrangements between head tenants and individuals should contain similar obligations and rights, which in turn should be similar in terms of security of tenure to standard ACT Housing Trust tenancy agreements.
I previously announced that we would allocate 50 dwellings for the scheme, but I did not detail the priorities. In the discussion paper which formed the basis for consultation with the youth sector we clearly said that the priority would be to establish up to 20 dwellings under the head tenancy arrangement. This would be the first step in starting the scheme.
I hope that some groups, especially young ones, may start off with support from a community organisation and end up being able to live quite independently. When this happens it will be a measure of the success of the program.
We are offering alternatives for young people which will suit their level of living skills, and we are acknowledging that all young people facing homelessness are not the same. Some require support and supervision while making the transition to being able to live independently, others require a permanent home. The second stage of the scheme will involve up to 30 dwellings to be allocated to groups which are more capable of living independently.
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