Page 5564 - Week 13 - Thursday, 17 November 2011
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In 2002 ACT Housing had a fair spread of properties across Canberra. There were 27 per cent in Belconnen and Gungahlin; 27 per cent in the inner south, Woden and Weston Creek; 20 per cent in Tuggeranong; and 26 per cent in the inner north. Page 10 of the strategy said:
… the spread of stock right across the Territory is one of the positive features of the portfolio. The areas with the highest stock age (Inner North and Inner South) are also the areas where housing for elderly residents and young people, who are reliant on public transport and other services, remain priorities.
I am looking forward to seeing Housing ACT’s next public housing asset management strategy and will be interested to see where stock is currently located and how it has changed over time.
I, like the Minister for Community Services, am honoured to represent the electorate of Brindabella. All members and ministers make decisions which affect all residents of Canberra, particularly if it is a portfolio they look into. As a Brindabella MLA, I will act on behalf of Tuggeranong and Woden constituents, but I also act on behalf of people in public housing across the ACT.
It is also about giving people choice about where they live. As I have stated on this issue, some people in public housing will want to live in suburban and outer suburban areas; others will want to stay in Civic. I had an older woman contact my office who had lived in the Northbourne flats for around 25 years; she did not want to move and was quite distressed about this particular issue.
The government’s decision to redevelop the ABC and Northbourne flats is more than welcome. The Greens, however, are disappointed that, while redeveloping the flats, the government will remove about 423 public housing dwellings from those sites. As I have noted, feedback that I have received from a number of constituents in the Northbourne flats is that they do not want to move. They want to stay and be a part of the redeveloped site.
The minister said on Tuesday that she did not have estimates about the revenue associated with the redevelopments. However, given that the government assumes that each new dwelling costs about $400,000 to purchase, the government needs to be clear about the $170 million from the two redeveloped sites, to be able to replace the stock.
The government has also explicitly said that any resident who wants to stay at Northbourne flats will be able to. But given that the government is planning to have about 90 public housing dwellings on the redeveloped site, a question does need to be answered: what will happen to the more than 90 households who want to stay, and what will happen to future tenants?
The Greens agree that social housing should be spread across Canberra so that public housing tenants can have a choice about where they live and therefore there should be an equal distribution across Canberra.
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