Page 1304 - Week 04 - Thursday, 4 May 2006
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Mr Hargreaves: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) There are currently no plans to transfer a portion of public housing stock to the community housing sector or any other community organisations;
(2) N/A – see answer to (1)
Housing ACT—services
(Question No 997)
Mrs Burke asked the Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, upon notice, on 9 March 2006:
(1) Given that on 1 March 2006, during an interview on 666 ABC radio, the Minister indicated that the Stanhope Government has not yet ruled out the $30 million 2004 election commitment for a capital injection fund that the Minister implied would facilitate the construction of around 90 public housing properties over three years, if this election commitment is not achievable due to budgetary constraints relating to forecast deficits for the next three financial years, what changes will the Minister be putting into place that would see improvements in service delivery for Housing ACT;
(2) How is the Minister facilitating real cost savings in the portfolio area and ensuring greater re-investment of surplus funds into any Housing ACT capital works projects;
(3) If the Minister cannot achieve any cost savings in the delivery of services in Housing ACT such as maintenance and tenancy management, what forms of private investment is he actively attempting to attract that will see more applicants, in greatest need, being allocated a public housing property.
Mr Hargreaves: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) Funding decisions are developed by Government in an annual Budget process. Irrespective, several initiatives are being implemented to improve service delivery in Housing ACT. These include the Joint Champions Group, which aims to foster greater consultation and participation by tenants in decision-making for public housing and the benchmarking of operations against other jurisdictions to assess likely areas for achieving efficiencies. In addition, the Government will be looking at the actions and responses from the recent Ministerial Housing Consumer Forum and Housing Summit to inform decision-making about improving service delivery;
(2) See above. It should also be noted that as a general principle any surplus cash generated from operations is re-invested into acquiring additional properties;
(3) At the recent ACT Ministerial Housing Summit, one of the sessions was devoted to investigating the options for attracting increased private sector involvement in the provision of housing assistance. This builds on the joint venturing arrangements for the development of the land at Lyons formerly occupied by Burnie Court and the redevelopment of Fraser Court.
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