Page 1328 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 June 2020
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MADAM SPEAKER: Ms Berry, you have time left.
MS BERRY: I want to provide one more number, which is accommodation at the Winter Lodge, which I know Mr Parton is particularly interested in. There were 27 people accommodated there last month.
MR PARTON: I have a supplementary question. Minister, with regard to the issue that was raised in the question, what have you personally done and what are you doing to get these units filled?
MS BERRY: Thirty-three of the public housing units are filled, and there are about another four who are in the process of moving in, which does take some time. We have been negotiating for some time with the preferred tenderer, and I will be announcing the preferred tender next week, but it has been a long process because it is something new for the ACT that has not been done before. The contract that we have been negotiating has required significant work through both parties—the government and the community housing organisation. But, importantly, I want to acknowledge the work that Housing ACT has done in the meantime in supporting people in our community through heat, smoke, hail damage and now COVID-19. They conducted four heatwave responses for 600 of our most vulnerable public housing tenants.
Mr Coe: It would be easier if they were in a unit.
MS BERRY: Yes, it would be easier if they were in a unit. You were talking this morning, Madam Speaker, about hypocrisy, and I find that in the opposition, with respect to their petition that was presented in the Assembly this morning, which called for a reduction in public housing. Members of the opposition cannot come in here and ask, “Why isn’t there more?” and then call for less.
MADAM SPEAKER: Is there a supplementary question or a new question?
MR COE: There is. Minister, what lessons have been learnt from this failure so that future projects do not suffer the same fate and so that the ACT government can, at last, reduce homelessness in the territory?
MS BERRY: It has not been a failure; it has been a success. It is a new type of housing, where people are supported to build a strong community in mixed accommodation of affordable and public housing, working together to create a really strong community at this new development. I should remind members, again, of what Housing ACT has been working through over the last six months—in particular through the smoke, the fires and the hail damage to housing properties, as well as now through COVID-19.
It has been a significant amount of investment and fast-tracked work to ensure that people who have experienced homelessness in our community and who are most in need of support are getting it. We have provided additional supports for women who are escaping domestic and family violence, through making sure that they are supported not just for the short term but for the long term—for over 12 months.
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