Page 1366 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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appropriately qualified technical consultants. This is the most efficient way to deliver this requirement in a timely way.
In fact, the consultative mechanisms used by DHCS for both housing and homelessness are outlined in volume 1 of the annual report, from page 116 on, and include the youth homelessness working group. The ACT Youth Coalition received funding of $30,000 to provide secretariat services under the guidance of Meredith Hunter as executive director. And I pay credit and bow very profusely to Meredith Hunter sitting in the gallery. The chief executive’s homelessness roundtable meets quarterly with homelessness service providers. Supported accommodation assistance program forums meet bimonthly and are jointly chaired by the department and the sector. In regard to homelessness pathways meetings, there are four service groups which meet on a regular basis: women’s, men’s, young people and families.
The joint community government reference group meets six-weekly with government and peak organisations. It was previously chaired by Meredith Whitten in her role as the executive director of the Youth Coalition. I take back what I said before. I have promoted the delicious and delightful Meredith Whitten, who is an executive director with the Department of Housing and Community Services. I have mistaken her for the equally efficient Meredith Hunter from the Greens, the Greens coordinator, and I apologise to both of those ladies for mixing them up.
Housing ACT also has standing committees for tenant participation. The Joint Champions Group meets twice a year and its three subgroups meet quarterly. Community participation, public housing reforms and neighbourly behaviours is another. ACT Shelter is funded over $130,000 a year to provide advice to government on housing policy and to hold policy forums in the community to provide feedback to government. Right now I would like to say thank you to Geoffrey Dalton, because the stuff that he has been coming forward with and advising government on has been particularly valuable and fits absolutely beautifully in our notion of the way to go forward. We are meeting with the Causeway residents quarterly.
There have been a series of workshops over the past four months with community housing providers and other supported accommodation providers to develop the guidelines for registration of providers under the Housing Assistance Act—something that an adviser to Ms Bresnan asked me about while were here. We are still having those workshops and evaluating those workshops on the registration of providers. I undertook that we would not introduce the regulations until the community consultation and stakeholder consultation had been completed. It has not been completed yet and I further give that undertaking: I will not sign any regulations on this issue until such time as I am satisfied that the consultation has been expansive, transparent and honest.
Builders, of course, have been engaged already to start on the houses under stage 1 of the nation building and jobs plan. Plans will soon start to be submitted for approval. This is for information. This sort of urgency is required to meet the deadline of 75 per cent of houses built in 2010. It is important that the government responds quickly, otherwise we will lose the money. Losing the money means fewer houses are provided for those people on low incomes, people who need a home to live in, and it also means fewer jobs for Canberra.
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