Member for Toowoomba North Kerry Shine and Housing Minister Karen Struthers have visited tenants who have been living in a new social housing development completed in May.
Mr Shine said the eight, two bedroom apartments in Wilsonton were built using funds from the federal government’s stimulus package and had been a great help to tenants looking to get back on their feet.
He said the $1.7 million project had provided a safe and secure place to live for people doing it tough and generated jobs in the local construction industry.
“Here in the Darling Downs region, we saw a 28% downturn in the construction industry between August 2008 and April this year,” Mr Shine said. “This project alone generated 15 jobs during that time. Across the Toowoomba area, we invested more than $25 million from the federal government and the state government in the last financial year to build social housing. All up, that supported almost 190 jobs. The investment has been a real lifeline to the local construction industry”.
Mr Shine went on to say “The great thing about this project here is that half of the units can be adapted to meet the access requirements of people with a disability. Two of the units are semi-adaptable and two are fully wheelchair adaptable”.
Ms Struthers said Queensland could expect to see more than 4000 new social housing dwellings by June 2012 under the federal government program.
“The help people receive from social housing is very significant when it’s added up,” Ms Struthers said. “When you add in other concessions, it works out to be about an average of about $14,500 a year in assistance that social housing tenants receive”.
Further Information:
Phone: 4638 5755 Fax: 4638 4056 Email: toowoomba.north@parliament.qld.gov.au
