facs budget 2005-06 - outcome 2: greater self-reliance and ... · homeless people and low-income...

Agency Budget Statements – Agency Outcomes - FaCS

OUTCOME 2 GREATER SELF-RELIANCE AND ENGAGEMENT FOR THOSE IN NEED THROUGH SHARED RESPONSIBILITY, PRACTICAL SUPPORT AND HELP WITH HOUSING

Services and assistance that: support Indigenous families and communities; and help homeless people and low-income households to gain affordable and appropriate housing.

Description Outcome 2 reflects the Government’s commitment to provide affordable housing for Indigenous Australians, people in low-income households and people who are at risk of homelessness. To build on the provision of affordable housing, the department will:

• develop partnerships with key stakeholders to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of housing and housing related infrastructure;

• provide funding to state and territory governments to facilitate the delivery of housing assistance;

• provide community housing and housing related essential services in rural and remote Indigenous communities;

• provide assistance to low income households to enable them to access affordable housing and encourage participation; and

• help support people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, to move from crisis to independence through the provision of transitional accommodation and related support services.

Contribution of Outputs to Outcome 2 Practical Support and Sharing Responsibility (Output Group 2.1) will contribute by:

• assisting Indigenous people to live in a location of their choice and have access to local government services;

• improving municipal services to Indigenous communities;

• assisting low and moderate income households to access appropriate affordable housing; and

• supporting initiatives to assist homeless people.

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Agency Budget Statements — Agency Outcomes —FaCS

Figure 8: Outcome 2 and Contributing Outputs

Outcome 2Greater self-reliance and engagement for

those in need through shared responsibility,practical support and help with housing -

Total Resources 1 $ 1,539mDepartmental Appropriations 2 $ 127mAdministered Appropriations 3 $ 1,411m

See Table 3.1.2 for resources and 3.2.2 for performance information

Output Group 2.1Practical Support and Sharing Responsibility

Departmental Appropriations $127m

Administered Appropriations $1,411m

1. 'Total Resources' includes Departmental and Administered Appropriations, Non-Directly Appropriated Expenses, and Revenue from Other Sources.

2. ‘Departmental Appropriations’ include ‘Appropriations applicable across Outcome 2'.3. 'Administered Appropriations' include 'Administered Items across Outcome 2'.

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Outcome 2 Resourcing Resourcing for Outcome 2 in 2005-06 is estimated to be $1.5 billion.

Policy Initiatives Policy initiatives announced in 2005-06 that will contribute to Outcome 2 are outlined in Table 2.8. New policy initiatives announced prior to the Budget and variations to previously announced measures also contribute to Outcome 2.

Other Resource Variations Table 3.1.2 shows how the 2005-06 Budget appropriations translate to total resourcing for Outcome 2, including administered expenses, revenue from government (appropriation), revenue from other sources (Departmental) and the total price of outputs.

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Table 3.1.2: Total Resources for Outcome 2 ($’000)

Final BudgetEstimates Estimates

2004–05 2005-06$'000 $'000

Appropriation Bill (No. 1)Ex-Gratia Payments to ACT Bush Fire Victims 253 -Household Organisational Management Expenses 1,255 1,278National Housing Priorities 372 379National Housing Research 420 420

811 22,397

202,796 282,975 Subtotal 205,907 307,449Appropriation Bill (No. 2)Social Housing Subsidy Program 2,130 1,995

174,688 158,088

940,711 943,519

Subtotal 1,117,529 1,103,6021,323,436 1,411,051

Total Administered AppropriationsAppropriation Bill (No. 1) 205,907 307,449Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 1,117,529 1,103,602

Total Administered Appropriations 1,323,436 1,411,051Non-Directly Appropriated ExpensesCHIP - CHIN (Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs) 6,185 1,600SAAP Research and Development Special Account 3,509 -

Total Non-Directly Appropriated Expenses 9,694 1,6001,333,130 1,412,651

Estimated payments from Special Account balances1

SAAP Research and Development Special Account -3,509 -Total Administered Special Account outflows -3,509 -

Total Administered Resourcing (A)

ADMINISTERED APPROPRIATIONS

Commonwealth State Housing Agreement (for expenditure under the Housing Assistance Act 1996 )

Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme (for expenditure under the Supported Accommodation Assistance Act 1994 )

Total Output Group 2.1

Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme - National Priorities

Community Housing and Infrastructure Programme

Output Group 2.1 – Practical Support and Sharing Responsibility

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Final BudgetEstimates Estimates

2004–05 2005-06$'000 $'000

Policy Services and Programme Management 20,961 18,306Service Delivery 158,522 108,423

179,483 126,729179,483 126,729

Revenue from Other SourcesSection 31 of the FMA Act 1997 95 108

Total Revenue from other Sources (C) 95 108

Total Price of Departmental Outputs (B+C) 179,578 126,837(Total revenue from Government and from other sources)

Total Estimated Resourcing for Outcome 2 (A+B+C) 1,512,708 1,539,488(Total price of outputs and administered expenses)

Average Staffing Level (units) 217 214

Total Revenue from Government (Appropriations) (B)

DEPARTMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS

Total Output Group 2.1

Output Group 2.1 – Practical Support and Sharing Responsibility

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Measures Affecting Outcome 2

Table 2.8 documents the impact of new measures on Outcome 2 resourcing. These are explained in detail in Section 2, and are:

New Measures

• Addressing Indigenous Needs – Fringe Benefit Tax Supplementation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Organisations - Extension

• Addressing Indigenous Needs - Healthy Indigenous Housing - Continuation

• Australia – United States Free Trade Agreement

• National Homelessness Strategy - Extension

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Payments and Services Under Outcome 2 Practical Support and Sharing Responsibility Household Organisational Management Expenses (HOME)

The Household Organisational Management Expenses (HOME) Advice Programme offers assistance to families who are experiencing difficulties with maintaining their tenancies or home ownership.

National Housing Priorities

National Housing Priorities provide grants approved by the Minister that are used for a range of housing projects, including funding to support community housing representative bodies.

National Housing Research

Funding supplements are provided to the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) for housing research. Funds may also be used for research, development, demonstration and evaluation in relation to housing.

Community Housing and Infrastructure Programme (CHIP)

This programme provides funding for housing and environmental health related infrastructure.

The purpose of the Indigenous Community Housing and Infrastructure Programme funding is to supplement the efforts of state and territory governments through providing additional, adequate, appropriate and sustainable rental housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including:

• construction and purchase; renovations and upgrade of community owned and managed rental housing;

• provision of serviced land, repairs and maintenance of existing housing stock; and

• supplementing management costs of housing stocks where rental income/services charges are not sufficient to meet these costs.

The programme also aims to achieve improvements to environmental health conditions in Indigenous communities by supplementing the efforts of state, territory and local governments to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples achieve access to essential services.

This programme also provides funding to enable the provision of essential municipal services by supplementing the efforts of State, Territory and local governments to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are able to live in a location of their choice and have access to essential services that are consistent with and appropriate to their needs.

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Social Housing Subsidy Programme

The Social Housing Subsidy Programme (SHSP) is a long-term pilot project that subsidises the recurrent costs of financing additional rental accommodation for low and moderate income earners. Only one pilot project operates under SHSP: the expansion of community housing opportunities in NSW.

Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme (for expenditure under the Supported Accommodation Assistance Act 1994)

The Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme (SAAP) is a jointly funded programme between the Australian and State and Territory Governments, providing crisis accommodation and support to those who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness. The SAAP V Agreement from 2005-2006 to 2009-2010 is expected to provide around $931 million from the Australian Government. States and territories will also make a commitment to SAAP V.

Commonwealth State Housing Agreement (for expenditure under the Housing Assistance Act 1996)

The 2003 CSHA provides Australian Government grants of around $4.75 billion over five years from July 2003 (approximately $930 million each year) to states and territories to assist those people whose housing needs cannot be met in the private sector to access appropriate and affordable housing.

Rent Assistance

Rent Assistance contributes to the improvement of housing affordability and complements broader income-support objectives by assisting individuals and families with the additional costs associated with renting in the private housing market. In 2004-05 it is estimated that rent assistance will provide assistance to almost one million Australians with the Australian Government providing funding of $2.05 billion.

Rent assistance is a non-taxable income supplement payable to those who receive an income support payment (except Austudy payment) or an amount of Family Tax Benefit greater than the base rate.

There is no separate appropriation for Rent Assistance. Rent Assistance is a supplementary payment and expenditure is reported against that of the primary payment, including payments now the responsibility of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and Department of Education, Science and Training.

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Performance Indicators for Outcome 2 Operating Environment Statement Housing

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Year Book Australia 2004 shows that in 2000–01, 70 per cent of Australian households were living in their own home (with 38 per cent owned outright), 21 per cent were renting privately and five per cent were in public housing. The overall level of home ownership has changed very little since 1994. An ABS report, prepared by Melbourne academics David McKenzie and Chris Chamberlain and released in November 2003, estimated that 99,900 Australians were homeless on Census night in 2001. This was a reduction on the previous estimate of 105,300 on Census night in 1996. The level of home ownership is much lower for income support recipients, many of whom share with others, often in informal arrangements with family members. Centrelink data shows that as at June 2004, 40 per cent of income units receiving an income support payment or more than the base rate of FTB Part A were homeowners. Another 24 per cent were paying private rent, eight per cent were in public housing and three percent were in nursing homes, aged care or retirement villages.

Affordability of home ownership is an important factor impacting on the ability of other housing tenure types to meet the demand for accommodation. House prices have, on average, more than doubled in the past seven years with a corresponding decline in the affordability of first home purchase according to the Commonwealth Bank - Housing Industry Association Housing Affordability Index.

Since October 2002 the number of first home buyers had declined to well below the long term average. However, the recent slowing in house prices has aided affordability, which in November 2004 coincided with the number of first home buyers rising above the long term average.

Homelessness is affected by a range of factors including unemployment, income, housing affordability, relationship breakdown, domestic violence, substance abuse and mental illness. Until recently there has been no reasonable estimate of the number of homeless people in Australia. The McKenzie/Chamberlain report uses Census data complemented by other data to estimate the extent of homelessness in Australia on Census night 2001. Their report provides information that was not previously available, by providing information about those people who do not necessarily access services such as SAAP services or come into contact with other programmes of assistance.

Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure

The ABS estimated the Indigenous population of Australia in 2001 at 460,100 or 2.4 per cent of the total population. Approximately 27 per cent of the total Indigenous population live in rural/remote areas and of these, a large proportion live in small remote communities.

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Socio-economic indicators show that Indigenous peoples, especially those in remote areas, suffer consistently greater disadvantage in comparison to non-Indigenous people in a range of areas, including literacy and numeracy levels, educational engagement, imprisonment rates, income levels, infant mortality and morbidity rates, health (including mental health), housing, employment, and access to services.

The housing circumstances of Indigenous people are different to those of non-Indigenous Australians. ABS Census and other data indicate that:

• Indigenous rates of home-ownership are around half those of non-Indigenous Australians;

• when renting, about half of Indigenous families rent privately with the other half reliant on community and public rental housing;

• public rental housing is more common for those in urban areas and community-based rental housing is the main form of housing in most rural and remote Indigenous communities;

• Indigenous households experience higher rates of overcrowding than non-Indigenous households, particularly in rural and remote areas; and

• many Indigenous communities in rural and remote areas require substantial assistance to develop and maintain appropriate and affordable housing-related services, such as water, power supplies and waste management systems.

The quantity and quality of housing and associated services contribute significantly to poor environmental health conditions and associated primary health problems in many Indigenous communities.

In the Australian constitutional framework, municipal services and local government are State rather than Australian Government responsibilities. Many rural and remote Indigenous communities do not receive funding from state or local government to cover the costs of such services. Communities that do receive funding often require additional funding to address a legacy of under-servicing, or to meet high costs associated with remote area service delivery.

In many jurisdictions, issues related to small populations, structural inefficiencies, poverty and rateability significantly reduce the funding pool available to provide such services. Therefore, many Indigenous communities need funding assistance to provide and maintain essential municipal services that are taken for granted in most non-Indigenous communities. These services include water, power, sewerage, waste removal and other community infrastructure.

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Table 3.2.2: Performance Information for Outcome 2 Output Group 2.1: Practical Support and Sharing Responsibility

Administered Items

• Commonwealth Housing & Infrastructure Programme - Community Housing & Infrastructure Output

• Community Housing & Infrastructure Programme - Municipal Services Output • Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure - Expand the Supply of Healthy Housing -

Fixing Houses for Better Health • Commonwealth State Housing Agreement • Commonwealth State Housing Agreement - Aboriginal Rental Housing

Programme • Household Organisational Management Expenses (HOME) Advice Programme • National Housing Priorities • National Housing Research • Rent Assistance • Social Housing Subsidy Programme • Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme

Departmental Outputs

Programme

• ry

Administered Appropriations: $1,411.1m

Departmental Appropriations: $126.7m

2005–06 Estimate

• Policy Services andManagement Service Delive

Administered Items

Indicator Type

Commonwealth Housin ture Programme - Com ousing & g & Infrastruc munity HInfrastructure Output

Housing Organisations undertakingorganisational or housing management training

per cent of targets agreed with states and territories

Effectiveness -Capacity

Number of states and territories

k

states

s

with strategies in place to assist ICHOs to achieve improved management of housing stoc

100 per cent ofand territories are actively involved inproviding a range offinancial and other management reviewto ICHOs

Indicator Estimate

Number of Indigenous Community

Number is within 5

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Administered Items

Indicator Type Indicator Estimate

Mechanism for Indigenous input to planning, decision making and delivery of housing and infrastructure services is maximised

100 per cent of construction and upgrading work involves direct participation by the relevant Indigenous Community Organisation and mechanisms have been developed to ensure this

Effectiveness -Targeting

Ratio of recurrent to capital funding in Indigenous housing and infrastructure

Recurrent - 30 per cent: Capital - 70 per cent

Reduction in number of families in rural and remote areas living in improvised dwellings

100 per cent of Indigenous housing plans include strategies to reduce the number of families in improvised dwellings

The number of communities with new/upgraded power, water, sewerage and internal roads

Up to 300 communities with improved access

Quality -Access & Choice

The number of Indigenous people housed in new or upgraded houses

Up to 5,000 people with improved access

All housing construction and upgrades are undertaken in accordance with the "National Framework for the Design, Construction & Maintenance of Indigenous Housing" and with the "Building Code of Australia"

100 per cent of all programme and project management agreements and procurement processes require adherence to the National Framework and Building Code

Quality -Assurance

Percentage of states and territories with Indigenous housing agreements in place for 2005-2008 by December 2005

100 per cent

Quantity Number of houses under management of ICHOs, receiving recurrent support

6,000

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Administered Items


Number of new houses acquired or constructed

Approximately 500

Number of upgraded houses Approximately 1,000

Community Housing & Infrastructure Programme - Municipal Services Output


Percentage of municipal services funding provided to Indigenous communities in rural and remote areas of Australia

Approximately 95 per cent

Number of Indigenous community organisations providing municipal and essential services to residents of homelands as a result of funding support

Approximately 250 community organisations

Number of Indigenous people provided with adequate municipal and essential services

Approximately 45,000


Percentage of small Indigenous discrete communities in rural and remote Australia that have improved access to local government and essential services

85 per cent

Quality -Assurance

All Indigenous organisations receiving municipal services funding are required to have current housing and infrastructure management plans established and implemented

100 per cent

Indigenous organisations funded for municipal services purposes are required to negotiate with mainstream local and state agencies in regard to accessing improved mainstream services

100 per cent

Quantity Number of essential infrastructure facilities maintained

Approximately 2,000

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Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure - Expand the Supply of Healthy Housing - Fixing Houses for Better Health


Percentage of Indigenous housing providers participating in FHBH that support housing managers and housing maintenance teams to assess the need for maintenance, organise repairs to safety and health hardware and to maintain their houses to a safe, healthy and sustainable standard by having a cyclical maintenance system such as Maintain Houses for Better Health

50 per cent

Effectiveness -Take Up /Coverage

Percentage of Indigenous housing authorities that integrate FHBH methodology (or similar methodology) within the housing maintenance and upgrade programmes of state and territory Indigenous housing authorities

100 per cent

Quality -Assurance

Improvement in the functionality of housing health hardware between survey/fix 1 and survey/fix 2 in all communities participating in Fixing Houses for Better Health

20 per cent

Quantity The number of Indigenous community housing managers who are trained in housing maintenance through 'Maintaining Houses for Better Health'

5

Commonwealth Housing and Infrastructure Programme (CHIP)

Total Price $283.0 million

Commonwealth State Housing Agreement

Effectiveness -Adequacy

Percentage of households where dwelling size is not appropriate due to overcrowding

1 per cent

Effectiveness -Affordability

Rent charged as a proportion of market rent for each dwelling (after reducing market rent by the amount of Rent Assistance a household would receive if renting privately)

68 per cent

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New allocations to those in greatest need as a percentage of all new allocations

36 per cent

New low income householders as a percentage of all new households

99 per cent


Percentage of new tenancies allocated to households with special needs

44 per cent


Percentage of households rating amenity and location aspects of their dwelling as important and meeting their needs

amenity - 75 per cent; location - 85 per cent

Quality -Assurance

Time taken to occupy vacant stock 35 days

Quality -Client Satisfaction

Client satisfaction with service base year (1996) survey result 67 per cent

Quantity Number of dwellings 342,800

Commonwealth State Housing Agreement - Aboriginal Rental Housing Programme

Effectiveness -Adequacy

An improvement in the average housing occupancy rates for Indigenous households

Five per cent reduction in persons per household from 2001 Census

Increase in Indigenous community housing income from rent collections

By 2006, national average rent collected for Indigenous community housing will increase by a minimum of 5 per cent


Percentage of Indigenous community housing organisations that have housing management plans which include policies on rent collection, rent arrears management and asset management

100 per cent

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Number of state and territories with training plans for the ICHO sector in place

100 per cent of states and territories are actively involved in the development and implementation of training for staff in Indigenous community housing organisations. Targets to be developed with states and territories in 2005-2006


Percentage of capital funding and recurrent funding

Capital: 70 per cent, Recurrent: 30 per cent

Percentage of states and territories with Indigenous housing agreements in place for 2005-08 by December 2005

100 per cent

Improved condition of Indigenous housing stock

100 per cent of states and territories adopt and report against the 'National Framework for the Design, Construction and Maintenance of Indigenous Housing' and demonstrate an increase in the health hardware functionality of houses

Quality -Assurance

Indigenous community housing organisations have staff with accredited housing management training

100 per cent of states and territories are actively involved in the development and implementation of training for managers in Indigenous community housing organisations

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Reduction in the number of Indigenous families in rural and remote areas living in improvised dwellings

100 per cent of Indigenous Housing Plans include strategies to reduce the number of Indigenous families in rural and remote areas living in improvised dwellings

Commonwealth State Housing Agreement

Total Price $943.5 million

Household Organisational Management Expenses (HOME) Advice Programme

Effectiveness -Early Intervention

Percentage of families remaining in their own homes or re-housed as measured at the end of the support period

80 per cent

Effectiveness -Take Up /Coverage

Percentage of Indigenous individuals accessing the programme

20 per cent


Percentage of families with a programme rating of 'improved somewhat' or 'improved substantially' as measured at the end of the support period

60 per cent

Quantity Number of families assisted 400 families per year

Price $1.3 million

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National Housing Priorities

Satisfaction with quality and timeliness of policy advice/sector information received from organisations for use in housing policy development

100 per cent

Satisfaction with quality and timeliness of policy advice/sector achievement of funding agreements targets

100 per cent

Reports to FaCS through organisations' representative structures represent broad membership views

100 per cent

Quality -Assurance

Satisfaction with quality and timeliness of project outputs

100 per cent

Price $0.4 million

National Housing Research

Quality -Assurance

Satisfaction with the level to which funded organisations meet the requirements of the Funding Agreement and associated documents

100 per cent

Price $0.4 million

Rent Assistance

Effectiveness -Affordability

Impact of Rent Assistance on housing affordability - percentage of persons/couples paying more than 50 per cent of their combined income on rent after Rent Assistance taken into account

Percentage of persons/couples paying more than 50 per cent of income in rent will reduce from 28 per cent to 9 per cent after Rent Assistance is taken into account at June 2006

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Impact of Rent Assistance on rental affordability - percentage of persons/couples paying more than 30 per cent of their combined income on rent after Rent Assistance taken into account

Percentage of persons/couples paying more than 30 per cent of income in rent will reduce from 70per cent to 36 per cent after Rent Assistance, at June 2006


Percentage of individuals and families paying enough rent to receive maximum assistance

63 per cent at June 2006

Quantity Average number of individuals and families receiving Rent Assistance

948,000

Price $2.1 billion

Social Housing Subsidy Programme

Quantity Number of dwellings funded 253

Price $2.0 million

Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme (SAAP)

Cost per client assigned a SAAP service

$3,190

Cost per completed support period $1,900

Cost

Cost per day of support $44

Effectiveness -Early Intervention

Percentage of SAAP clients' identified needs which are met by the programme

96.1 per cent

Percentage of clients entering support with no income who exit with income

31 per cent Effectiveness -Independence

Percentage of clients exiting to independent housing after support

70.8 per cent

Percentage of people seeking services

86.9 per cent

Percentage of people with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds seeking services

16.5 per cent


Percentage of people with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds seeking services

10.4 per cent

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Quality -Assurance

Service improved through increased percentage of SAAP clients with a case plan

An agreed case plan in 53.8 per cent of support periods


Percentage of SAAP clients who express their satisfaction with the assistance they receive from the SAAP service

91 percent of clients felt the service they received was either good or really good

Number of clients assisted annually

100,200 Quantity

Number of occasions of support 187,200

Price $158.1 million Departmental Outputs


Cost Ratio of departmental expense to administered expense

9.0c:$1

Policy Services and Programme Management

Department ensures that service providers meet terms and conditions of funding

100 per cent

Research and evaluation is of a high standard (timely, fulfils terms of reference, complete, methodologically sound) and contributes to policy understanding and development

100 per cent

Quality -Assurance

Service agreements/contracts that meet legislative, government policy and departmental requirements in place with all service providers

100 per cent


Minister, Parliamentary Secretary and their offices satisfied with the quality of policy advice and department meets standards for policy advice

100 per cent

Quantity Major pieces of research and evaluation completed

2; Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and Evaluation of Expanding the Supply of Healthy Indigenous Housing

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Departmental Outputs


Number of contracts/service agreements under management

58

Number of service providers under management

430

Number of items to Minister and Parliamentary Secretary

360 items of ministerial correspondence; 170 submissions and briefings

Price $18.3 million

Service Delivery

Quality -Assurance

Service providers deliver services to the standards agreed with FaCS

100 per cent

Control of incorrect payment and fraud in the Rent Assistance programme: savings in administered items arising from targeted compliance activities

$3.15 million in fortnightly savings and $4.68 million annually in debts

Quality -Client Rights & Obligations

Percentage of reviews and appeals where the original decision is changed

ARO: 40 per cent SSAT: 35 per cent AAT: 50 per cent

Price $108.4 million

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Evaluations for Outcome 2 Building a Better Future: Indigenous Housing to 2010 (BBF)

In signing the Building a Better Future: Indigenous Housing to 2010 (BBF) in May 2001, all State and Territory Housing Ministers committed to a mid-term review in 2005. A Steering Group comprised of representatives from FaCS, the Housing Ministers Advisory Committee, and the Standing Committee on Indigenous Housing is oversighting the review.

The department will project manage the review on behalf of the Steering Group. The review is to run from July to December 2005 and a detailed assessment of the implications of the review report will be prepared for Housing Ministers in the first half of 2006.

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facs budget 2005-06 - outcome 2: greater self-reliance and ... · homeless people and low-income...

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