Page 3710 - Week 12 - Thursday, 22 November 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
their mental illness plays a critical role in maintaining housing stability, which in turn provides greater personal stability and contributes to people’s capacity to self-manage their mental illness.
As Minister for Housing, I am proud of the range of public housing reform detailed in the government’s response to the standing committee report. These reforms have delivered a more effective, timely housing response to those most in need in the community, including people with mental illness. Considerable reform has been implemented to public housing to ensure that it is targeted to those most in need in the ACT community following the introduction of the new public rental housing assistance program—PRHAP—in July 2006.
These reforms commenced on 1 October 2006 and included a reduction in the qualifying income criteria, a tightening of the ACT residency requirements and major changes to the priority allocation system moving to a needs-based allocation system which recognises complex needs in the assessment and allocation processes. Complex needs will include: homelessness; mental health or medical issues; disability, including frail aged; women and children escaping domestic violence; Indigenous people facing complex issues; and children at risk, including their parents and carers.
Priority housing status may be granted to an applicant who has a range of complex needs. This qualifies people for immediate housing assistance and people granted this status will be housed within three months. No more than 150 applicants will be placed in this category at any one time, and to date the number has not exceeded 50 applicants at any one time. Applicants are to be allocated assistance from this category on a needs basis rather than a chronological basis, and to date all applicants in this category have been housed within three months.
This work has been supported by the establishment of a multidisciplinary panel from across ACT government and the community sector which draws together experts from across relevant portfolios to assist in determining the comparative need of applicants and making appropriate property allocation. Housing ACT has also implemented additional measures to ensure that it remains as the post-crisis response for people who require housing assistance and that appropriate community based support services are available to assist tenants to achieve and maintain sustainable housing outcomes. This includes forging stronger partnerships with community service providers and Mental Health ACT.
An example of these mechanisms is the introduction of a pre-allocation case conferencing mechanism. This process involves Housing ACT, applicants for housing and support agencies involved in this person’s life meeting to discuss the needs of the applicant. It also identifies any agencies that currently are providing support and may also assist in referring people to other agencies who may be of assistance in the future.
This information and the early identification of support services assist Housing ACT to make appropriate allocations to its applicants. The consequence of this is that people with mental illness or other complex needs are more likely to maintain successful tenancies. Housing ACT’s commitment to work with both applicants and Mental Health and other relevant support services also ensures that people have the supports to enable them to live and contribute positively within the community.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .