Page 4479 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 14 October 2009
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The intention of the Australian government’s stimulus package for social housing is that a major proportion of the assets funded by this investment are to be handed over to non-government providers and they will also have the responsibility for managing them. In part, that reflects the growing reality of the broader housing market. It also reflects the judgement that the Australian government has made on the capacity of the public housing providers across the various states of Australia.
Here in the ACT we have seen changes over the years. I think everyone knows that the Greens have a slightly different view of the role of and potential for public housing than the Labor Party and, more particularly, the Liberal Party. But the purpose of this motion is not to re-prosecute arguments about the role of public housing. After all, the Labor-Greens agreement includes a commitment to grow our public housing stock to 10 per cent, which is based on a belief that a socially and economically sustainable model for public housing needs to be big enough and welcoming enough to support a social mix. And the ACT public housing stock is growing, so we are moving in the right direction.
The Greens are also enthusiastic about the role of non-government housing providers that work with specific communities of need and/or interest. While we appreciate the role that affordable housing providers have to play for those people on lower incomes who do not require social assistance, we do not want advancements in this area to disadvantage those constituents who genuinely need community housing and the social assistance that can come with that.
The community housing sector has also been shaken up over the last three years or so. Again, I will not go into detail on that. The point is to pay some regard to where we are now. Community Housing Canberra has changed its name to CHC Affordable Housing. The ACT government transferred to it $40 million of housing assets and extended to it a line of credit. It is now an independent affordable housing provider which leases a number of properties to community housing providers and is looking to develop properties for rent at 75 per cent of market rent, and for sale on various occasions, in order to grow its business, which is the supply of affordable housing in the ACT. Interestingly, the social housing stimulus investment has seen CHC also recommit to the provision of housing at the rebate level of 25 per cent of income, an area it had previously flagged it was moving away from.
Smaller community housing providers that had responsibility for delivering a suite of services have variously closed, reorganised or amalgamated. Back in 1997, for example, there were around 15 community housing providers in Canberra. There are now a lot less. The largest existing community housing provider in the ACT now is Havelock Housing Association. In addition to Havelock House, it has responsibility for Ainslie Village and a number of other properties. The properties that it manages are owned by the ACT government. Before the 2006 reorganisation, those properties were available at a peppercorn rent. Presently, Havelock is paying 35 per cent of market rent to the ACT government and that charge, I understand, will go up to 40 per cent next year. Some of the smaller community housing providers own properties; others rent them from CHC or the government at various rates.
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