The ACT government has hit back at claims it is sending public housing tenants to outer suburbs, saying 140 tenants have been moved to new homes in the inner north.
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Housing Minister Yvette Berry said of 326 flats vacated so far in Northbourne Avenue, the city and Red Hill, 73 tenants were now in Tuggeranong, 70 in Belconnen or Gungahlin, and 25 in Woden and Weston Creek.
Of people who had moved to new homes in the inner north, 88 had moved from the Allawah and Bega flats in Cooyong Street, 42 from the Owen and Karuah flats in Northbourne Avenue, and 10 from the Red Hill flats. They are now at:
- Downer, 27 tenants
- Turner, 26
- O'Connor, 25
- Ainslie, 19
- Lyneham, 15
- Reid, 9
- Braddon, 8
- Hackett, 7
- Dickson, 4
Ms Berry published the housing data on Wednesday as the Liberals brought a debate in the ACT parliament, calling on the government to abandon plans for public housing at Holder, Chapman and Wright.
The government is planning 141 townhouses and apartments in five suburbs in Canberra's south.
Liberal Mark Parton compared the move from Northbourne Avenue to the lead-up to the Rio Olympics where people in housing stress were told "we don't want you within a bull's roar of our showcase".
Northbourne tenants were being "swept away with the stroke of a pen" to clear the way for the "massive white elephant" tramline. A city pharmacist had told the Liberals he was very concerned about rising stress among tenants, and an increase in prescriptions for stress and anxiety medications.
Mr Parton said as a former public housing tenant he was "appalled".
Wright, Chapman and Holder were not suitable for public housing, with limited jobs, and services more difficult for tenants to access. At about 30 townhouses each, the developments were too big, and rather than "salt and peppering" public housing across the city, the government was creating "big lumps of pepper in areas where they seem unsuitable".
Housing Minister Yvette Berry said tenants were moving from old, outdated, environmentally inefficient homes into places that were more modern and comfortable, in smaller complexes and with better security. So well was it integrated that she had heard from people who had gone looking for the new public housing in their suburb and hadn't been able to find it, she said.
As a backbencher in 2014, Ms Berry called for tenants to be allowed to remain in Northbourne Avenue, saying she was concerned it would be turned into a zone of "posh" apartments for the rich.
As housing minister, Ms Berry was forced to concede last week that none of the tenants would remain on Northbourne Avenue, but she said many would stay in the inner north.
Residents are setting up action groups to fight the plans, with Holder residents fighting plans for a two-storey development with 30 apartments and townhouses on parkland at Stapylton Street, and Wright residents opposing 32 townhouses on land zoned for community facilities at Diesendorf Street. Chapman residents say the land there is in a bushfire zone and should not be used for public housing.
In Holder, the Post and Ante Natal Depression Support and Information group will be moved from the block to make way for the public housing.
Support group president Christine Spicer said the move to an old school at Weston Creek would double the rent bill, to about $15,000 a year, and the group was looking at fundraising. But while the current location was "perfect", the group understood that its lease was up, and it must move.
Liberal Giulia Jones said the post-natal group had heard about plans to redevelop the site last year. She had written to Chief Minister Andrew Barr who told her in May and again in September before the election that the government had no intention of redeveloping the site.
