ACT gets $157 million for social housing, homelessness in new deal with Commonwealth

The ACT will receive $157 million of Commonwealth money to combat homelessness, provide crisis support, and build and repair social housing.

The funding is the ACT’s share of the new $9.3 billion, five-year National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness that starts on 1 July.

This new agreement includes a doubling of Commonwealth funding for homelessness, which state and territory governments must match.

States and territories will also share in a further $1 billion outside the agreement through Housing Australia directed towards crisis and transitional accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

The new funding is part of the $32 billion in new housing initiatives the Commonwealth is delivering through its Homes for Australia plan.

It has already delivered $2 billion to states and territories through the Social Housing Accelerator to deliver around 4000 new social homes.

Federal Housing Minister Julie Collins announced the new agreement at new ACT public housing properties in the inner north alongside ACT Housing and Suburban Development Minister Yvette Berry and Member for Canberra Alicia Payne.

Ms Collins said the ACT was guaranteed a minimum of 1200 homes from Housing Australia over five years from 1 July through the Homes for Australia plan.

“That will make a big difference here in the ACT,” Ms Collins said

Mr Berry said the ACT Government wanted to make sure that every Canberran had an equal chance to find a place to call home, and that included building more public and community housing.

She said the government had outlaid record funding for housing in the ACT, but now it had a partner in the Commonwealth Government, something she had not seen for nearly a decade.

Ms Berry said she had always said that the ACT could not solve the housing crisis on its own.

“I’ve been pleased to see that partnership and then funding flowing to our community housing providers, as well as Housing ACT, so we can build even more homes for people to live in.”

Ms Berry said the five new energy-efficient, accessible and sustainable public housing homes had replaced two ageing attached townhouses.

Ms Collins said these new ACT homes were of the standard the Commonwealth wanted Australians to have across the country.

“We want to see more energy efficient homes, particularly for low-income Australians who can’t afford high energy bills,” she said.

In the context of family violence, she said it was critical that the government could provide women and children with safe and secure homes.

Ms Collins said there would always be a role for public housing for those Australians having a tough time.

“We need more homes of every type in more places right across the country,” she said.

“We’ll continue to work hard right across the board so Australians have more homes to buy, more homes to rent.”

Under the new agreement, NSW will receive the highest amount at $2.82 billion, followed by Victoria ($2.36 billion), Queensland ($1.86 billion), Western Australia ($993.2 million), South Australia ($625.1 million), Tasmania ($195.3 million), the Northern Territory ($290.2 million) and the ACT ($157.4 million).