Page 2762 - Week 08 - Thursday, 24 August 2006
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I did hear the minister making a comment about the multicultural summit. The details of that have been made public. Is there a chance that you will do the same for all the collated information from the housing summit and the housing forum? I do not see why not. A lot of those people have come to me and said, “We put in all this effort and time. It was a great day. We did have a good get together. But what now?” There has been nothing. They have not seen the fruit of their labours, and to actually float ideas might be a good way for the minister and the government to get even further ideas.
In closing, I look forward to continuing to work with the minister. I could go on and say a lot more, but due to time constraints, I will not. I will continue to give praise where it is due and I will energetically lobby the minister and the Stanhope government when I believe they are failing the community.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (12.27 am): On Thursday, 22 June, a number of community organisations and members of the public rallied against the ACT government’s severe cuts to housing and homelessness services in the budget. A number of community organisations had been informed that their services would have funding cuts or be abolished altogether. The cuts included $1.7 million from existing SAAP services, changes in funding to the community-housing sector and the halving of funding to Canberra housing peak bodies ACT Shelter and the Coalition of Community Housing Organisations of the ACT. In addition, $7.3 million has been cut from the operating budget of ACT Housing, with eligibility criteria for public housing cut by up to 37 per cent of gross income.
ACTCOSS wanted the government to understand that these actions will increase poverty and disadvantage in the ACT and that the community sector would not tolerate these actions. Prior to this budget, ACTCOSS and other community organisations went to great lengths to let the government know that homelessness services should be quarantined from cuts. If you must cut community services, leave housing alone was the theme of many submissions. In this context SAAP cuts are appalling. They are an attack on the provision of social housing to the ACT community.
Meanwhile, as the government makes drastic cuts in housing services, the availability of affordable housing continues to decline and low income earners are pushed even further from renting and purchasing housing through the private market. The government has not publicly acknowledged the connection between a lack of affordable private rental accommodation and difficulties attracting skilled workers, as the UK and other countries have.
These cuts may see the government make short-term savings, but the long-term sustainability of these actions will see the government under greater pressure in the years to come. The government needs to create long-term financing solutions for the housing portfolio as it creeps further into the red. While the increasing debt can be partly attributed to the diminishing level of commonwealth funding through the CSHA, it can also be attributed to the lack of strategic direction provided to ACT Housing. This is a matter of priorities.
The only strategic direction Mr Hargreaves has provided is a cut in eligibility criteria. On 6 June he took steps to ensure that public housing is more directed at welfare recipients,
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