In the lead up to the 2021-22 ACT Budget, the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has called on the ACT Government to urgently address the ACT’s ongoing housing crisis; to provide adequate funding for community sector organisations; and to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The 2021-22 ACT Budget will be released on 31 August. In its submission to the ACT Government’s Budget Consultation, ACTCOSS has listed its priority policies for the achievement of a just and fair Canberra.

“The ACT’s community service organisations are on the front line, offering support to Canberrans who are struggling during these difficult times,” said ACTCOSS CEO Dr Emma Campbell.

“In the wake of the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, demand for assistance is increasing, and vulnerable individuals and families are presenting with more complex and challenging issues.”

Approximately 8.6% of Canberrans live below the poverty line, and around 40,000 people live in households that are among Australia’s most disadvantaged, Dr Campbell stated. The number of Canberrans receiving Job Seeker or Youth Allowance is currently one third above pre-COVID levels.

“As the sector tries to meet growing demand, it is facing a funding cliff.”

The ACT Government was expected to increase funding to the health and community services sector by a “mere” 1.75%, Dr Campbell said.

However, in the coming financial year, wages will increase by 2.5%; rents paid by community service organisations to the ACT Government will increase by 3%; long service leave contributions will increase from 1.2% to 1.6%; and compulsory superannuation contributions from 9.5% to 10%.

“This will result in services having to make difficult choices – including scaling back supports for Canberra’s most vulnerable,” Dr Campbell said.

ACTCOSS has also called on the ACT Government to deliver more public housing and to empower community housing providers to build 600 affordable rental properties – a government commitment in the Parliamentary and Governing Agreement.

The ACT has a shortfall of more than 3,000 social housing dwellings, and the highest rate of rental stress among lower income private rental households of any jurisdiction, Dr Campbell said.

ACTCOSS also wants the ACT Government to consult and co-design with Ngunnawal people and other Aboriginal people in the ACT on policies affecting them, develop an Indigenous Housing Strategy, implement a partnership with the Ngunnawal elders’ council, and establish an Indigenous childcare agency, a children’s commissioner, and a rehabilitation facility.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were only 1.9% of the ACT population, but made up more than a quarter of the ACT prison population – and the number of detainees had increased by 12% in the 2019-20 financial year. Young people were 18 times more likely to be incarcerated than other people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were also more than 10 times more likely to be clients of specialist homelessness services.

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