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New Commonwealth/State Housing Agreement signed

Victoria has signed a new $1.2 billion Commonwealth State Housing Agreement (CSHA) that guarantees funding for four years.

The Agreement is effective from 1 July 1999 and maintains the current level of State and Commonwealth funding at a time when Commonwealth grants to the States are under great scrutiny.

The new Agreement cements the principle that assistance is to be given primarily to those who do not have other housing options.

It acknowledges the importance of other Commonwealth and State programs related to housing. These include the rent assistance program and key support programs provided to households in high housing need such as the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program and aged care assistance. The Agreement seeks also to strengthen linkages between these programs and housing assistance.

Victoria’s Housing Minister, Ann Henderson, said that for Victoria, the signing of the agreement consolidated plans to continue the redevelopment the oldest and most problematic public housing estates.

"This builds on the Government’s commitment prior to the last election to improve and redevelop the walkup and broad acre estates in both Melbourne and country Victoria.

"Important projects have involved the redevelopment of the Olympic village in Heidelberg and the start of the redevelopment of the Kensington estate," she said.

(News Release, Office of the Minister for Housing, July 28, 1999)