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Campaign To Increase Funding For Social Housing PDF Print E-mail
As the National Affordable Housing Agreement is being finalised, it's time to urge the Federal Government to increase funding for social housing. NCOSS supports the current campaign by Shelter NSW aimed at increasing the funding for social housing.
The Australian Labor Party, when in opposition, was highly critical of the Howard government for having withdrawn funds from social housing. Now it has an opportunity to right that wrong.

The Federal and State Governments are currently negotiating a National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) to replace the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement (CSHA). You can download a Shelter brief that gives background to the new agreement: http://www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/fly08nahafactsheet.pdf

The draft agreement is due to approved by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in the next few weeks. The December meeting of COAG is then due to finalise funding arrangements for the NAHA and other Specific Purpose Payments. This is a critical opportunity to urge the federal government to commit to increased funding for social housing and new support for community housing.

We encourage you to write to your local Federal Member of Parliament as soon as possible, and Shelter has drafted a form letter which you can use or adapt to suit yourself: http://www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/fly08nahafederalmpletter-proforma.rtf

You can find the contact details for NSW Federal MPs at the Commonwealth Parliament website at: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/mi-state.asp

To find what Federal electorate you are in, you can search the Australian Electoral Commission website at: http://apps.aec.gov.au/esearch

In order to sustain and grow our social housing system it is crucial that additional funds are allocated to it.

In order to achieve this, Cabinet must be convinced, so you may also wish to
send letters to the following members of Cabinet:
  • The Hon. Kevin Rudd, MP, Prime Minister
  • The Hon. Wayne Swan, MP, Treasurer
  • The Hon. Jenny Macklin, MP, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
  • The Hon. Lindsay Tanner, MP, Minister for Finance and Deregulation
Shelter NSW would like to know how many letters have been sent, so please keep them informed by emailing copies of your letters, and any replies received, to:

Mary Perkins, Executive Officer
Shelter NSW Incorporated
Suite 2, Level 4, 377-383 Sussex Street
Sydney NSW 2000
phone: 02 9267 5733  
fax: 02 9267 7001
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