Page 506 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 18 February 2015

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Housing—public

MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.14): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Productivity Commission Report on Government Services for 2013-14 highlights that 2300 people are on the ACT public housing waiting list;

(b) the ACT has Australia’s second highest rate of homelessness, at 50 people per 10 000 of the population;

(c) there has been an increase of more than 900 people on the ACT public housing waiting list since 2010;

(d) the number of public housing dwellings in the ACT has dropped by approximately 300 compared to 10 years ago;

(e) Canberra’s private rental housing market remains one of Australia’s least affordable for low and moderate income earners; and

(f) there are a significant number of ACT public housing properties with structural problems; and

(2) calls on the ACT Government to provide detailed information, by the last sitting day in March, of what action it is taking in relation to:

(a) providing exits from ACT homelessness services;

(b) helping all those leaving domestic violence, young people, families, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people with disabilities and the elderly to be housed in ACT public housing;

(c) rehousing tenants from the Northbourne Flats, ABC Flats and Strathgordon public housing properties;

(d) if required, helping South Canberra Motor Park residents, including where it will rehouse those residents; and

(e) maintenance and repairs of ACT public housing properties.

I bring the motion to the Assembly today to talk about the dire state of the public housing system in the ACT.

One issue of great importance that the government needs to address is that of providing exits from ACT homelessness services. Between 2006 and 2011 the rate of homelessness in the ACT increased by 88 per cent. In 2011 the ACT had the second highest rate of homelessness in Australia, according to the census. It is alarming. In fact, it is more than alarming; it is disgraceful that in our community here in the ACT

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