Page 2232 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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there are no affordable rental houses for a single person on a single, low income in the ACT. Why are there no affordable rentals for single people on low incomes in Canberra?
MS BERRY: I think it is like the questions that have been asked previously by the opposition during question time today, around rental affordability in the ACT. Yes, rental affordability is a challenge that the country is facing at the moment. There are a number of reasons why rental affordability is an issue.
I believe that removing stamp duty for first home buyers will provide opportunities for people to get into homes of their own. It is something that Mrs Dunne and I actually agree on: people should have that opportunity; it should not just be left to the rental market, for people to have to rent for the rest of their lives. Just like the rest of us in this place, except for Mr Pettersson, and everyone else in the community, people should be able to aspire to get into a home of their own. That is often provided for really low income or no income families, or families on modest incomes, by public housing. More needs to be done to provide opportunities to other people in our community on low incomes to get into homes of their own and to provide opportunities to rent.
Of course, population growth in the ACT means that there are more people in the ACT who want to purchase and live in our community, which is a good thing, but that places pressure on other people in our community who might not have the same opportunities.
MR MILLIGAN: Minister, how many individuals have contacted the ACT government regarding housing affordability issues or housing stress over the last year?
MS BERRY: I do not think that data would be available in the form Mr Milligan has asked for it. Information on the number of people who have applied for public housing is available on the website; that is public information. The ACT has its affordable housing database now. A number of people have signed up to that. I think close to 1,000 people have registered on that database to access affordable homes that meet their needs. It has been a really successful program in matching up families and individuals to houses available on the market that meet with their income.
The ACT government is continuing to provide opportunities, particularly around rental bonds as well, making sure that people can access a rental bond loan. This means they can get their rental bond loan straightaway rather than that being a barrier to their getting into a rental property of their own. There are a number of initiatives available for people trying to rent a property or trying to get into a home of their own.
MR PARTON: Minister, how much is this lack of affordable housing contributing to Canberra having Australia’s highest rates of repeat homelessness?
MS BERRY: The repeat homelessness data that Mr Parton is referring to is not a very clear dataset to refer to, because it might apply to, for example, someone who has been in a crisis service, then ended up in the AMC and then come back out of the AMC and ended up back in a crisis service. So there is some—
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