Page 3152 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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MR COE (Ginninderra) (1.11 am): I do not intend to speak for very long this evening on this issue as I have already put a considerable amount on the record in recent months in the media, in this place and in the committee. Firstly, I put on the record my support and thanks for the work done by the staff of Housing ACT, in, particular the housing managers. I think they have got a pretty tough job to be honest. There are only 40 or so housing managers who manage over 10,000 properties. They manage 250 properties each roughly, and there are certainly some pretty unique needs amongst the tenancies. So they have got their work cut out for them, and it takes a special sort of person and someone with a real commitment to the job to undertake that role. I very much commend them for it and I thank them for the role they continue to play in our community.
We need to steer away from a principle that more public housing is better. A better principle is that we want people in housing. Whether that is supplied by the private sector or by the government to an extent is irrelevant in terms of the specific needs of an individual household getting shelter for the night. There are long-term social and demographic issues which need to be addressed, but, in the simplest sense, someone having shelter is the most important thing. It is very important that, where possible, we do not drive people into public housing because we have an unaffordable housing market, whether that be the result of the cost of purchasing properties or the cost of renting properties. It seems to me that, when we simply try to increase the stock of public housing, we are, to an extent, actually treating the symptom—that is, an unaffordable housing market driving people to a position where they are dependent upon the government for support for housing. It is not always as simple as that; it is not always economic drivers which push someone into public housing. There are often other factors, but economic drivers are certainly one of the key ones.
I note that next year the target for the number of properties managed by Housing ACT within the social housing suite will be 12,050. I imagine that is probably the highest level it has ever been here in the territory. It may not be as a percentage, but I certainly think it would be overall. The former housing minister is nodding, which suggests that that is so.
I also note that the cost per dwelling of public housing is still hovering around the $10,000 mark, with next year the average to be $9,954. That is a huge amount. We really need to be looking at ways of bringing that down. There are a few ways it can be done, and that is something I will be exploring over the coming months and year or two.
Finally, I want to comment on a particularly strange strategic indicator—that is, strategic indicator No 2, found on page 384 of budget paper No 4. It is the percentage of tenants who recognise that public housing assists them to participate in the community. It is not the percentage of tenants whom public housing assists; it is the percentage of tenants who recognise that public housing assists them to participate in the community.
A much better indicator would be the percentage of tenants whom public housing assists to participate in the community rather than the percentage of those who
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