The last few years have been difficult for the community, and some people need more support, says Emma Davidson, ACT Minister for Disabilities and Assistant Minister for Families and Community Services.

To help them, the ACT Government will provide millions of dollars to service providers, unpaid carers, Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations, and other organisations that help Canberrans when they need it most.

Specialist homelessness services will receive $2.21 million over the next two years to continue delivering programs established during the pandemic – such as Argyle Housing’s Ainslie Lodge, or Marymead CatholicCare’s Axial Housing program, which moves people off the streets into permanent homes.

“It’s very cold at the moment; we’re well aware of how difficult it is in the ACT to access housing,” Anne Kirwan, CEO of Marymead said. “So it’s great to see that some of those initiatives that commenced during COVID are going to continue and help people in need across Canberra.”

• More funding for homelessness services (3 March)
• YMCA Canberra welcomes homelessness funding boost (23 September 2021)
• Government reaches out to homeless in lockdown (9 September 2021)

A mental health specialist will work with Axial Housing to help Marymead connect homeless people with housing, mental health services, or drug and alcohol therapy. More than 90 per cent of their clients have complex mental health issues and drug and alcohol trauma, Ms Kirwan said.

The government will also collect data on Canberra’s homeless people. The government knows only a small number of people sleep rough, Rebecca Vassarotti, Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services, explained.

“We want to get a really good sense of the people and their needs, the sorts of services they access, and the services they don’t access but might need to.”

In 2017, Canberra’s carers – more than 50,000 unpaid family members and friends who help people with disability, the frail aged, or people with mental health or health conditions with the tasks of daily living – developed the ACT Carers Strategy to create “a Canberra that cares for carers”.

Last year, Carers ACT was disappointed that the 2021–22 Budget had no funding for the strategy; but this time, the government has committed to spend more than $825,000 over four years.

• ACT Budget: Carers ACT hugely disappointed (7 October 2021)

That, said Lisa Kelly, CEO of Carers ACT, was “a phenomenal step forward”.

The most common challenge carers face is invisibility, she said. “They’re not often seen in the service systems in which they interact. They’re not recognised for the role that they play. They’re not provided with the services and supports they need in order to maintain their own health and well-being.”

Fifty-eight per cent of carers in the ACT have poor health, while many carers only have one social event a year, Ms Kelly said.

Palliative Care ACT will receive $2.59 million to fund Leo’s Place, the only non-clinical, home-like palliative care respite facility in the ACT, following an 18-month trial.

“Leo’s Place provides respite care for people who have life-limiting illnesses,” Ms Kelly said. “That ability to have a break from providing care or from just living life and having somebody make a meal for you, somebody make the bed for you, somebody sit down and just talk or read a book with you, incredibly lifts the spirit of people who are dying, and provides great relief for those people who are caring.”

The government will provide $9.4 million over four years to continue Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services’ holistic model of care at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people make up less than 2 per cent of the general population in the ACT, but 24.4 per cent of the population in the AMC, according to the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services.

ACT Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people are imprisoned at 19 times the rate of non-Indigenous people, well above the national average ratio of 16. They are subject to community corrections orders at 12 times the rate of non-Indigenous people, and have a much lower completion rate of 69 per cent compared with 78 per cent.

• Royal Commission needed for Indigenous disadvantage (28 January)

Ms Davidson said the funding recognised the impact of intergenerational trauma on individuals, their families, and the whole community.

The government will develop a Social Recovery Framework to improve the ACT’s planning and preparedness for disasters, such as bushfires, storms, and the pandemic.

“We know there will be more,” Ms Davidson said. “We’re living in a changing climate, and this pandemic is a long way from over yet.”

Hands Across Canberra, which administers the Chief Minister’s Charitable Fund, will receive $750,000 to build two charity houses in a new suburb. The high-quality houses will be auctioned on the private market; the proceeds will help local charities.

Dr Emma Campbell, CEO of the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS), welcomed the funding to continue these community services, but called on the government to invest more in supports for vulnerable Canberrans in the forthcoming ACT Budget.

“When the Chief Minister announced these measures, he acknowledged that the community sector has shown up time and time again to ensure that all those who call Canberra home can have the support they need,” Dr Campbell said.
 
“ACTCOSS calls on the ACT Government to ensure that the community sector has the support it needs to be able to meet increasing demands and costs of delivering those services.
 
“Over 38,000 Canberrans are living below the poverty line, including 9,000 children. The recent increases in cost of living have been staggering, and disproportionately affect every facet of life for people on low incomes. 
 
“The ACT continues to face a housing crisis. The ACT budget must go beyond funding emergency measures. It must fix the source of the problem – Canberra’s massive shortage of social and affordable housing.  
 
“ACTCOSS looks forward to further, significant announcements in the next month’s ACT budget to boost investment in housing, community services, and other supports so that vulnerable Canberrans are protected during these difficult times.”