Page 4467 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 30 October 2018
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That is why social housing sits at the heart of the new housing strategy and why the ACT government will continue to invest in our community to build more homes for people who are in need of affordable housing.
MS CHEYNE: Minister, what are the key government actions of the strategy?
MS BERRY: There have been a number of actions outlined with the community to make housing more affordable for Canberrans on lower incomes. The ACT government will provide $100 million in additional funding for new public housing over the next five years and build on the most extensive renewal of public housing that Canberra has ever seen. The renewal process will continue with around 1,000 further homes to be renewed, and stock will grow by at least 200.
Our government will continue to support public housing tenants and will see more public housing in our suburbs and town centres in all regions of the ACT. The ACT government will also be providing support to further grow the community housing sector. Where we can, the government will use its scale and capability to develop mixed housing so that the public and community housing portfolios can grow together. This offers the social outcomes that we are seeking and helps community housing providers focus on the services that they are best at.
Across different sites we will initially provide 151 dwellings for community housing, including 33 in a brand-new housing development soon to be completed in Kaleen. Both of these programs will be enabled by the new commitment to maintain at least 15 per cent of all government land supply for public, community and affordable housing. This builds on the previous policy, where this requirement applied only to greenfield development. It means more than 550 dwelling sites in the current financial year. This strategy delivers on the government’s election commitment to continue to make housing more affordable in the ACT.
MS LE COUTEUR: Minister, the 15 per cent figure which is part of the strategy, is that going to be for the whole indicative land release program or is it suburb by suburb?
MS BERRY: It is 15 per cent across greenfield and infill developments across the ACT.
ACT Health—joint replacements
MS LEE: My question is to the minister for health. I refer to a document attached to a brief from the Director-General of ACT Health, which you noted on 31 August, proposing possible cost-cutting measures for elective surgery. One of the proposals was capping the cost of primary joint replacement prosthetics to $9,500. This would apply for 410 people who need joint replacements. Minister, what is the status of the proposal to introduce a cost cap for primary joint replacement prosthetics?
MS FITZHARRIS: I indicated in my previous answer that none of those options has been pursued, and I refer Ms Lee to my previous answer where I said that these matters are now under consideration by the CEO of Canberra Health Services.
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