Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let the member opposite get a bit of a history lesson on what the government is actually doing. The member opposite talks about funding. It was a Labor government that actually failed to fund homelessness funding after the end of the previous financial year. There was not a single dollar of funding provided after 30 June 2014 by the previous Labor government for national partnership housing funding.

Let us get a few facts on the table. This financial year the coalition government will directly contribute $6.4 billion to improve housing outcomes. That includes some $1.3 billion to the states and territories through the National Affordable Housing Agreement for housing assistance and homelessness, $4.38 billion in Commonwealth rent assistance to support more than 1.3 million individuals and families renting in the private and community housing market, $257 million in financial incentives through a national rental affordability scheme for the construction and rental of dwellings for low- and moderate-income households and some $428 million to assist Indigenous housing outcomes through the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing. The coalition government understands that we need a long-term systematic effort to address homelessness and housing affordability. In fact, I was discussing the matter with the Treasurer earlier today

The government has restored funding for the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, providing some $230 million over two years from 1 July 2015, which will be matched by the states to fund frontline homelessness services which were left unfunded by those opposite. Under the 2015 to 2017 National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, priority has been given to services focusing on women and children experiencing domestic violence and on homeless youth. We know that among the most common factors leading to homelessness, particularly for women and children are issues to do with domestic violence. The member for Canberra touched on that in her contribution and the Salvation Army has spoken about it in its reports. There are almost 450 homelessness service providers delivering some 775 homelessness services around Australia.

The coalition has also finalised a number of initiatives to encourage new and innovative solutions to provide housing for people with disability. In 2015, the coalition finalised a specialist disability accommodation pricing framework. We are also allocating $10 million towards that initiative, to encourage the completion of housing projects for people with disability outside of NDIS trial sites. In February this year, the coalition established the Affordable Housing Working Group to investigate ways to boost the supply of affordable rental housing through innovative finance models. The working group received some 77 submissions, which are currently being evaluated, with the final report to include recommendations for possible trials and the next steps. The working group will canvass a range of innovative ways to increase investment in affordable housing. In addition, the government committed in the 2016-17 budget to implement a compulsory rent deduction scheme for social housing recipients. (Time expired)

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