Page 3058 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 17 October 2007
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The government has committed to trial a draft poverty impact analysis framework developed by the board. The ACT is the first jurisdiction to do this, and there are three areas to be examined:
• Climate change—the board and the department will conduct a social impact analysis of climate change and mitigation strategies on low-income, disadvantaged and vulnerable households. This will include a poverty impact assessment on selected actions to identify areas where the government can further mitigate the impact of climate change response measures.
• Debt management—as I have indicated, an interdepartmental committee will use the draft poverty proofing framework to inform any recommendations it may make to government on options for collecting debt from members of the ACT community. One aim is to address the lack of flexibility of existing arrangements for persons to repay outstanding traffic and parking infringement penalties. The household debt project recommended providing more flexible options.
• Homelessness—the government is currently evaluating its homelessness strategy and, as part of this process, a poverty impact analysis is being conducted to assess the impact of the strategy on the level of poverty in the ACT.
The board has identified affordability and homelessness as priority areas in their work to address the causes of social exclusion in the ACT. The government also continues to strive to improve access to services for the homeless. Recently Housing ACT has:
• reviewed its procedures to ensure that the top priority applicants are housed within three months. The multidisciplinary housing panel has consistently exceeded its target of housing applicants with highest needs within 90 days;
• continued the restructuring of housing stock to better meet the needs of Housing ACT clients and will purchase up to 20 new affordable house and land packages in the new estates, as well as participate in new demonstration villages;
• announced the introduction of eligibility reviews to encourage tenants with sustained incomes over $80,000 to purchase their home or consider buying or renting in the private market; and
• commenced a pilot for a youth stairwell model whereby tenants with similar backgrounds in multilevel complexes receive appropriate levels of support.
These initiatives highlight the government’s ongoing commitment to house the less well off in our community. The ACT government is acutely aware of the importance of addressing the problem of housing stress in order to improve the wellbeing of all Canberrans. It is for this reason the government introduced its affordable housing action plan in April 2007. The government’s affordable housing action plan is bold, innovative and far reaching. We have accepted all the recommendations of the affordable housing steering group and have moved rapidly into the implementation of the steering group’s recommendations.
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