Page 4054 - Week 13 - Thursday, 10 November 1994
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Housing - Single People
MRS GRASSBY: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Deputy Chief Minister in his capacity as Minister for Housing and Community Services. When discussing homelessness and SAAP services in the Assembly recently, the Minister alluded to a new group of accommodation schemes. Would the Minister now provide the Assembly with more details on this innovative scheme?
MR LAMONT: Madam Speaker, there has been much play over recent months following the release of a number of reports that have commented on the issue of homelessness in the ACT and the raft of programs which apply within the ACT, funded by both the ACT Government and the Commonwealth Government. It was interesting to note that, particularly in one of those reports, there was an indication that, of all States and Territories in Australia, the level of access to SAAP funded services in the ACT was higher per head of population than elsewhere in this country. I believe that that is appropriate. One would expect to see such a statistic here in the Territory, where services are more known, more available and more accessible.
In the specific terms of the question that has been asked, I announced last week the establishment of the single shared accommodation scheme for the ACT. The single shared accommodation scheme is an innovative program which is designed to expand the accommodation options of single people. It is unique in that each individual in a shared household will be able to have their own tenancy, which will increase their security of tenure. By providing more housing options for single people, the Housing Trust aims to satisfy a need in the community and to improve flexibility in its stock management. The scheme will operate as a pilot for approximately 12 months and will be evaluated during the pilot period. Housing provided under this program will come from the Housing Trust's existing stock. It is proposed that in the first six months of operation no more than 40 properties will be made available to the program. There may be considerable turnover of these properties.
Mr Cornwell: Why?
MR LAMONT: There will need to be. I will go on and explain that, Mr Cornwell. The effect of the single shared accommodation scheme on waiting times for standard accommodation is expected to be minimal. The single shared accommodation scheme may be particularly appropriate to meet the housing needs of young people. However, it is not a youth-specific housing program; it is aimed at all single people who wish to share accommodation. The single shared accommodation scheme has required an extensive developmental process because the program, in its entirety, has not been introduced elsewhere in Australia. Substantial work was done to ensure as far as possible that the concept was feasible and that the system to support the program was sufficiently robust.
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