Ministers Yvette Berry, Rebecca Vassarotti on why people are being moved in public housing program

This means that like in many cities, there has been a big increase in people needing assistance through public housing. In Canberra there are around 3000 households who are on the waiting list because they are homeless or in housing stress. We hear their stories every day as they reach out and explain their personal circumstances in trying to obtain a safe and secure home.

The ACT government is determined to do everything we can to provide more homes for people who need them.

The Growing and Renewing Public Housing program has been established to provide more homes for more people, as well as ensuring that homes we provide through public housing are accessible, are better able to be maintained, and are climate-wise. The oldest housing stock is simply either too expensive or impossible to retrofit to meet modern standards of accessibility and energy efficiency. To grow public housing, in some instances houses need to be sold or demolished to be able to increase the number that can be built overall.

The new homes that are built will better match the people needing them, including more single people and larger families who need more bedrooms. The government is committed to providing an extra 400 public housing properties for families who need them. One thousand more properties will be renewed or replaced to ensure they are modern, safe, accessible homes that will last into the future. It's an expensive commitment - it will cost over $1 billion - but it's something that needs to be done, it's the right thing to do, so that more homes are available for more families.

So that hundreds more homes can be built for people who need them, some tenants are being asked to move into new homes. Throughout this whole process, tenants will be supported to move into homes that better suit their needs. They will be newer, easier to maintain, built to be accessible and disability friendly, and cheaper to heat and cool.

This process is not new. During the previous public housing renewal program, over 1,288 households were successfully relocated into newer, more suitable and more sustainable homes. The program was overwhelmingly successful, and we still hear to this day from many tenants about the positive change it made in their lives to move out of places like the old Allawah Court, Currong Apartments and Bega Court (ABC) flats into modern homes. Many of these people were initially apprehensive about the idea of moving too.

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Moving can be hard, and for some people it can be really difficult to think about leaving a family home that has been the place where memories have been made and families have grown up. This is why we spent two years casting a wide net across public housing properties that were assessed as being suitable for the program to initially identify people who did want to voluntarily move.

To date, 101 tenants have agreed and are waiting to move and 350 tenants have already moved. But in order to build and buy more homes, we now need some more people to move out of their older properties.

As part of this broader process, there is an exemptions process to identify tenants who, due to medical or other reasons of necessity, need to stay in their current property. This has been developed - and is being implemented - in partnership with a number of community organisations to ensure that all the relevant information is considered and vulnerable people are being looked after throughout. Housing ACT also sought feedback from the ACT Human Rights Commission in the development of the exemptions process to ensure that it is fair and reasonable.

This new phase of the program is also working with people who need to move to ensure there is a good understanding of what they need - before they move, when they are moving and afterwards. This includes provision of support from independent advocacy and service delivery organisations. Where people move to is really important and people are being offered homes in the areas they have identified they want to live in to keep them connected to their social networks and services.

Staff are also working with people who have pets, caring arrangements and other needs to ensure that their new home accommodates these. There is funding and practical assistance for moving, as well as work to ensure that special garden and household items that wouldn't normally be moved from a rental home can be relocated with people. The costs of moving are covered by the ACT government to help people set up their new homes, including such expenses as removalists and connection to telecommunications and other vital services.

We know that moving is hard. But so is waiting many months or years for public housing, particularly if you are homeless or in temporary housing or currently facing unaffordable housing costs. In some instances, by asking one person to move into a new home, two or more families will be accommodated in the new homes that are built or bought. Public housing stock in Canberra currently includes some of the oldest homes in Australia in older suburbs. Every new home built is accessible and suitable for tenants now and into the future.

Moving into more suitable homes as people age presents difficult decisions for all people and families, whether they live in public housing or not. These are challenges that we all will face at some point in our lives. The Growing and Renewing Public Housing program provides an opportunity to ensure that people's housing needs are being met as their needs change, as well as delivering a broader community benefit through providing additional homes for more people.

As ministers responsible for the wellbeing of all people who need public housing in Canberra, we take our responsibilities very seriously. We share the community's concern regarding the housing affordability crisis and will continue to do everything we can to support current tenants, as well as those who desperately need new and secure homes. The Growing and Renewing Public Housing program will ensure that these important outcomes are achieved.

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