Minister's Message
A good secure home is fundamental to so many parts of life - school, work, good health, friendships, comfort, security, happiness. On average, the ACT is Australia's most affordable jurisdiction to buy and second most affordable for renting. We have the most social housing relative to population and the 2016 census shows we are defying a national trend by reducing homelessness.
But there's no doubt there are people on low incomes and facing disadvantage who remain left behind in the current housing market. These are the people this strategy is designed for. It continues the ACT Government's long held commitment to intervening where the housing market fails to provide for these people in our community.
The ACT Housing Strategy (PDF 2.2 MB) (the strategy) is truly a reflection of community voices, having been developed on the back of thousands of contributions from people across the Canberra community - housing experts, housing tenants, service practitioners and many more who generously gave their time. A special thanks goes to the Affordable Housing Consultative Group who represent a broad cross section of the housing sector and have provided extremely valuable input to government through the process.
The goals of the strategy reflect its broad ambition. The policy levers affecting housing span numerous portfolios and the action plan shows the many ways in which the government will act in coming years, in particular:
- $100 million in new investment to further grow and renew our public housing stock as well as provide new opportunities for growth in the community housing sector
- a renewed commitment to meet or exceed population growth in our land supply, with 15% of dwelling sites committed for public, community and affordable housing further reforms to the Residential Tenancies Act to strengthen the rights of renters
- seed funding for new innovations in housing management, design and ownership to make sure the ACT is at the forefront of ways to do better in these areas.
Through this strategy the ACT Government is putting housing first. The Canberra community has always shown its willingness to give to the greater good. This document will guide the government, on behalf of the community, to do just that.
Yvette Berry MLA
Minister for Housing and Suburban Development