Page 2020 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 5 June 2018
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More support for Canberra families and inclusion
By all measures, Canberra is the wealthiest, best educated and longest-living community in Australia. That brings huge advantages for many of us, but it also comes with responsibilities: to support those who are not doing as well, to take good care of those who need our protection, and to work to close the gaps that some members of our community might otherwise fall through.
The ACT Government currently delivers half a billion dollars each year for community services and public housing. But we know there is more to do.
With this Budget, we are delivering 36 more places for women seeking safe and secure accommodation through services like the Beryl and Doris women’s refuges, as well as for asylum seekers and migrants with uncertain immigration status. We are also funding three more counsellors for the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre and Domestic Violence Crisis Service, to ensure women in crisis can get the help they need as quickly as possible.
Building on the investments made in keeping Canberra’s children safe through recent budgets, we are investing in a dedicated team within the Community Services Directorate to improve the adoption process for kids in out of home care and help more young people find a permanent home, sooner.
We are also providing new resources to deliver family group conferencing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families who are at risk of ongoing involvement with the child protection system.
Secure, suitable and affordable housing is one of the basics that people build a good life from, and we understand that finding the right place to live is a growing challenge for Canberrans on low incomes and those who have complex needs.
Our ongoing Public Housing Renewal program is currently delivering the largest overhaul of the Territory’s housing stock since self-government, with 810 new properties already delivered and a further 478 to go by mid-2019.
The Deputy Chief Minister has been leading a detailed conversation with the Canberra community about what comes next after this program and how we can work to ensure our affordable housing supply keeps up with our city’s growth. That will come together in the new housing strategy that will be released later this year, laying out the next phase of our investment in public, community and affordable housing.
But there are some priority investments we are getting on with now through this Budget, including delivering on our commitment to build a second culturally-appropriate housing complex for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans.
This Budget also kick-starts the development of a second Common Ground complex at Dickson with funding for design and approvals. We know that it will take a
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