Page 2250 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 4 August 2015
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It is also one of the core functions of the linking into new communities task force and the Housing ACT joint champions group. The assumption about location just does not hold true. Some people want to be in more outer suburbs, close to family, to particular schools or perhaps to recreation centres. Just like all Canberrans, many have cars. Just like all Canberrans, public housing tenants also use active transport like walking and riding bikes. And just like all Canberrans, they have access to private transport as well and, therefore, might not consider public transport among their highest priority.
The government’s public housing renewal program reflects exactly this evidence. We are committed to improving the quality of the public housing portfolio and breaking down concentrations of disadvantage and that is why over the next four years we will replace 13 large multi-unit sites along the Northbourne Avenue corridor and in other key locations across Canberra. As we work towards 352 replacement dwellings in the next two years—1,288 in total—the preferences of tenants are central to this consideration. Relocation options are being sourced from the entire public housing portfolio, including newly constructed housing to meet preferences wherever possible. As I mentioned, the LINCT task force has been established to oversee these activities and, from indications so far, tenants have expressed wishes to live in areas such as Gungahlin, Belconnen, Molonglo and also to stay close to the Northbourne Avenue corridor.
Membership of LINCT includes government officials, housing and community service providers and the ACT Tenants Union. It is supported by the transforming communities partnership which has similar representation and will also include tenant representatives from the affected properties. LINCT and the TCP exist to support tenant engagement in the relocation process and to ensure that the needs and preferences of tenants determine where they relocate to. Each tenant is being invited to indicate their housing preferences and the areas in which they would like to live. As I said those tenants who have already advised their preferences have indicated a wish to live in all parts of Canberra. The new housing will be provided on a smaller scale and be made available throughout the community. It will continue the salt-and-pepper philosophy, which has been central to the model here in Canberra.
Already new sites for public housing have been identified in Monash, Nicholls, Coombs, Amaroo, Moncrieff and Chisholm, which I was pleased to visit a couple of weeks ago, along with my colleague Minister Gentleman, to meet with builders, locals as well as some public housing tenants that came along. They will complement the existing distribution of the public housing portfolio which, I remind the Assembly, is more than 11,500 properties spread across most of our suburbs.
The government is working to ensure that the housing offered to tenants is close to community services, shops, medical services, employment opportunities, public transport routes and schools. An important element of our local schools is to ensure that families and children can get to and from school easily and safely. Locating public housing close to schools, while at the same time putting in place infrastructure to support children walking or riding safely to school, is important in achieving this. We are designing the new housing stock to ensure that it is sustainable and economical to live in, operate and maintain, is accessible, adaptable and better able to meet the different needs of future tenants.
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