RENTAL
ACCOMMODATION — SHORTAGE
99. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the minister representing the Minister
for Housing:
I refer to a report on ABC News this morning concerning the
critical shortage of rental accommodation in Perth, and another report in The West Australian today.
(1) Is the minister aware of today's alarming reports
on acute homelessness in Perth?
(2) What swift
action does the minister intend to take to alleviate the shortage of rental
accommodation?
Hon
KEN BASTON replied:
I thank the member for some notice of the question.
(1) Yes.
(2) In
relation to homelessness, the honourable member will be aware that Western
Australia is party to the current National Partnership Agreement on
Homelessness. Under the agreement, $135.1 million in joint state and
commonwealth funding will have been committed and spent by 30 June this year.
The implementation of this agreement was the subject of a performance audit by
the Office of the Auditor General in October last year. The OAG report was
positive in finding that the state had met its funding commitments and all
programs had been delivered as agreed in the implementation plan, with most
programs meeting or exceeding clients' targets and making a positive
difference to the people using them. The state government is currently
considering the commonwealth government's offer for a transitional
national partnership agreement on homelessness. The agreements are expected to
be finalised in the coming weeks and will see an extension of the arrangement
of support services to assist people in public and private rental accommodation
to maintain their tenancies.
The government is also looking
towards a new longer-term agreement to continually expand the good work already
being done in this area. In relation to the funding obligations under this
agreement, it should be noted that the government committed an additional $8.3 million
over 2011–12 and 2012–13 to not-for-profit service providers to
address sector sustainability issues, including salary levels.
Regarding housing affordability in
general, the Liberal–National government is strongly committed to
tackling the state's affordable housing challenge, including the issues
faced by homeless people. In May 2011 the government launched the ''Affordable
Housing Strategy 2010–2020: Opening Doors to Affordable Housing''.
The strategy was and remains the only whole-of-government plan for tackling
affordable housing by any government in Australia. To date, the strategy has
delivered more than 7 600 affordable housing opportunities. A number of key
initiatives are underway that will help alleviate pressure on the private
rental market in Western Australia. The government has supported the national
rental affordability scheme with a commitment of 6 000 incentives in Western
Australia. Around 1 350 of these properties have been delivered to date, with a
further 4 650 properties to be delivered in 2016. Each of these properties will
be rented to an eligible household at less than 80 per cent of the market rent.
In the 2012–13 budget, the
government committed $130 million over two years for the construction of 433
new social housing properties. In addition, the government continued to support
the growth of the community housing sector. Fourteen hundred properties have
been transferred to community housing growth providers since 2010 and, as a
result of these transfers, growth providers will develop 448 new affordable
housing dwellings for rent to low to moderate–income households by
2020.
This government has committed to
working in partnership with industry and the community sector to help improve
housing supply more generally and to combat homelessness specifically.