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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (14 May) . . Page.. 1396 ..

MS TUCKER: My question is to Mr Stefaniak as Minister for Housing. Minister, referral agencies in the ACT - including the Smith Family, St Vincent de Paul, the Women's Information and Referral Centre, the Salvation Army, Pathways and the Community Information and Referral Centre - are reporting increases in the number of requests for emergency housing in the ACT. At the same time as these agencies are dealing with increasing numbers of requests they are also facing the situation where refuges are full. I am very interested to know whether the Minister is aware of this problem and, if so, what the Minister intends to do about it.

MR STEFANIAK: I thank the member for the question. Yes, I have also read some of those reports in relation to the problems agencies have experienced in terms of people coming to them for varying types of assistance - clothes, advice and even money. I am well aware of that, Ms Tucker. Some of those refuges are indeed from time to time full. When that occurs - and it has occurred on a number of occasions - Housing take a number of steps to do their very best in an emergency to house people. That sometimes might take several days; but certainly Housing pull out all stops in those situations, to ensure that people actually are housed.

As you are well aware, there are two housing lists. There is the normal list for people who qualify for housing in the normal way, and there is the emergency housing list. I am certainly aware that there have been some instances where people cannot be accommodated in a refuge. Usually, that situation lasts for only a day or so, but I am certainly aware of such situations and I have personally taken steps with Housing, on behalf of some individual constituents who see me at such things as Meet the Minister, to see what can be done to speed up their entry into some type of accommodation. Usually, some emergency accommodation can be found very quickly in circumstances like that. It might be temporary emergency accommodation, but usually the people are catered for, and are catered for very swiftly.

The refuges are not normally full. That, unfortunately, does occur sometimes and that is when emergency action is taken by Housing. They do their best to assist there. Normally, the refuges can look after people who need emergency short-term accommodation; but, where that does not occur and Housing is aware of it, Housing basically pulls out all stops to ensure that those people have some type of temporary emergency accommodation.

MS TUCKER: I ask a supplementary question. "Do their best" and "usually can be accommodated" are not really clear. I am asking whether the Minister is prepared to undertake an assessment or to see that an assessment is undertaken of the level of unmet need for crisis accommodation in the ACT.

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