Page 5550 - Week 13 - Thursday, 17 November 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MS BURCH: We know only what we know. If people do not let us know that they need accommodation, I am not quite sure how we are to know that. But I am quite happy to bring back the number of families that we are currently working with to find suitable accommodation for either themselves directly or their children.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary, Ms Bresnan.
MS BRESNAN: Minister, how many people with disabilities or mental illness are there currently in supported accommodation, including group homes, in-home support and shared accommodation with people who also provide care and support, and what is the cost of this to the government annually?
MS BURCH: There is a lot of detail in that. I would have some information about disability, but if you want it for mental health, I will bring it back to you, Ms Bresnan.
MR HARGREAVES: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: To the minister, how have we been working with the federal government to make sure that we have disability-specific housing for those members of our community, our ACT community?
MS BURCH: I do thank Mr Hargreaves for his question. We have been working very strongly with the federal government about supporting people with a disability and those that need supported accommodation. I will just use two streams. One is the federal stimulus money that invested $87 million-odd into the territory. We complemented that significant contribution through land and other assets as well. That has brought on line over 420 properties. A lot of those, nearly 300 older persons units, are class C adaptable that allow ageing in place but also allow us to support people with a disability.
Within the last month I went to two units, one in O’Connor and one in Narrabundah, a small block of flats up to about eight or 10 units, and both of those contained class C adaptable units for those with a disability. I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow who was moving into one of those units and he was quite excited because it was within easy access, distance to the O’Connor shops, and he was very much looking forward to establishing himself in his new community and making those connections for himself.
The other property is at Narrabundah, where we have put in young people from residential aged care. That was jointly funded through the commonwealth and the state. That has, I think it is, four or five young residents who have been moved out of residential aged care into their own purpose-built and certainly quite good accommodation.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Le Couteur, a supplementary.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video