Page 2332 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 5 August 2015
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MS BERRY: I thank Ms Porter for the question. The ACT government is committed to providing high quality social housing. We understand the vital role it plays in both economic and social inclusion for those in need in our community and the benefits it creates for all Canberrans.
On 3 July the Chief Minister and I opened Common Ground Canberra, a long-term Labor commitment and an item in the Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement. The ACT government invested $13 million into the project, which provides 20 units for people experiencing homelessness and a further 20 units for affordable rental accommodation. Common Ground is different because it locates safe and secure accommodation directly with vital support services to help tenants break the cycle of homelessness. The goodwill shown to Common Ground has been inspiring and I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge groups like the Canberra Quilters, the Uniting Church Gungahlin, the Majura Men’s Shed, the Orana Steiner School, the CWA, the broader Gungahlin community and the many other generous community and business donors.
At the same time we are undertaking a once-in-a-generation renewal of Canberra’s public housing, which involves replacing 1,288 older public housing dwellings across Canberra. Last month, as part of this program, I announced the commencement of 20 new two-bedroom cottages in Chisholm. These homes are the first of an initial $159 million construction program to rejuvenate Canberra’s public housing stock. Our public housing renewal program is the largest since self-government and will deliver better and more secure homes as well as a significant economic investment to support our local economy and jobs. That is why I was pleased to announce that the contract to construct the homes was won by Canberra builder Blackett Homes.
Homelessness is a problem across Australia and here in Canberra we have 29 people sleeping rough on our streets most nights, and 1,785 people were homeless on census night, with most of these people in supported accommodation. In the ACT we provide the highest rate of homelessness accommodation and the highest level of public and social housing nationally. On 6 July this year, the Chief Minister signed an extended national partnership against homelessness agreement with the commonwealth government to enable the continued funding of homelessness service delivery until 30 June 2017. We will provide approximately $19.6 million in 2015-16 and $19.8 million in 2016-17 for specialist homelessness services.
The ACT government will continue to work to ensure continued funding to the homelessness sector beyond 30 June 2017. We understand that access to safe, appropriate and affordable housing will improve economic and social inclusion for tenants and improve wellbeing for everybody in our community.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Minister, how does the Common Ground model that you mentioned differ from previous approaches to social and affordable housing?
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