First Stimulus House delivered in NSW
Premier Nathan Rees and Federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek today announced that the first home in the country built as part of the Federal Government’s Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan is in NSW.
They made the announcement while inspecting the four bedroom home in the Sydney suburb of Yennora which is ready for a family to move in.
The Australian and NSW Governments have committed in stage one of construction to deliver 851 new social housing dwellings across the state by July 2010 at a cost of $225 million.
“When the Commonwealth announced the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan, the NSW Government hit the ground running,” Mr Rees said.
“This home is proof of that. Construction started in late February – taking around 13 weeks to build.
“We understood how critical it was for work under the Stimulus Plan to get started.
“We knew there were thousands of local jobs on the line and a global recession heading our way and that’s why we immediately put the Plan to action.”
Mr Rees said that the next three years will see an enormous amount of work taking place across the State.
“The NSW Government is investing $1 billion to deliver an extra 3,000 homes on top of the Federal Government’s commitment to deliver 6,000 social housing homes in NSW.
“That’s an extra 9,000 homes for those most in need and a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure jobs and investment in NSW.”
Ms Plibersek said the Rudd Government’s $6.4 billion investment to build 20,000 social housing dwellings across Australia will stimulate the building and construction industry and has been estimated by Treasury to support 15,000 jobs nationally over the next two years.
“The Rudd Government is taking practical steps through its Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan to cushion the impact of the global financial crisis by supporting jobs in the construction sector,” Ms Plibersek said.
“It’s not just about jobs for builders and trades people but also associated industries such as building manufacturers and suppliers who help keep the Australian economy ticking over.
“By increasing the supply of social housing, this package is a practical demonstration of the Rudd Government’s commitment to halve the number of homeless families and individuals in Australia by 2020.”
Mr Rees said the home will house a family with three children, one of whom has a disability.
“This home was designed with these residents in mind, it features wider hallways and doorways and special fittings to help make life easier for them,” Mr Rees said.
“This is a great example of social housing helping a family who have been struggling to find a secure home and who have limited options in the private rental market.”
Housing Minister David Borger said the home was built by Degree Constructions and a total of 52 people were involved in the building, including three apprentices.
“The Stimulus Plan is all about securing jobs. In the last three months alone more than 2100 have been secured in the Housing industry across NSW,” Mr Borger said.
“It’s critical that during these tough economic times we do all we can to help businesses retain their current employees as well as employ more people.”
Mr Borger said the home also featured an array of environmentally sustainable design features.
“The home also incorporates solar design principles with north facing living areas and is fully insulated,” Mr Borger said.
“The gardens are specially designed to use as little water as possible and a 3000 litre rainwater tank has been installed to collect all the runoff from the roof area.”
Member for Blaxland Jason Clare said today’s announcement was great news for the local community.
“The Rudd Government’s Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan is all about supporting jobs at a local level,” Mr Clare said.
“The construction of more public and community housing also delivers the important social benefit of providing affordable accommodation for those people who are doing it tough.”