Page 1109 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 1991
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home from the Housing Trust they not only help themselves to a secure and rewarding investment, but also help to provide another Canberra family, or applicant, with a home to rent.
I have already mentioned that this program will be a carefully staged commencement of sales to tenants. It will also have regard to our firm commitment to the replacement of houses that have been sold, to the dispersal of the public stock, and to ensure that the ACT housing market is not distorted. Tenants will be able to register their applications to purchase their government homes with the Housing Trust from 2 April. Information about the sales program and registration forms will be available from all Housing Trust district offices from that date. A registration list will be maintained and all applications will be considered.
However, tenants will need to note that in normal circumstances it may take about two months to process applications and to transfer properties. This is because property valuations, agreements on valuations, land surveys and lease preparation, contract exchange and settlement will need to be completed. In introducing this program from all its offices, the Housing Trust will be deploying special staff to support those staff who currently work in the district offices.
The reform of the home purchase assistance arrangements by the Alliance Government is the most significant development in housing in the ACT since we became a signatory to the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement. This reform will make us more efficient and will achieve the following key objectives: It will reduce the rental housing waiting lists; it will help those people who cannot access loans in the private sector and who do not qualify for public rental housing; it will target assistance to those in genuine need and do this for those periods when it is needed; and it will revitalise the Housing Trust and improve its operational efficiency.
In announcing this reform, I should like to emphasise the strong social commitment that I have found among Housing Trust staff, some of whom are in the Assembly today. With the compelling social challenge facing us to provide secure and accessible housing, I look forward to working with my dedicated officers to create a new sense of direction and reform within the trust. I commend the acceptance of the new home purchase assistance arrangements to the Assembly. I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Grassby) adjourned.
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