ACT election 2020: Affordable housing set to be a top issue

Affordable housing in the ACT was the hot topic this week when the territory's political parties were pressed on their policies ahead of the October election. But the two major parties remained tight-lipped on any policy announcements. Opposition housing spokesman Mark Parton said the Liberals would deliver the most significant reform in the supportive housing sector in the history of self-government in the ACT. But Mr Parton said he was not in a position to announce the policy at the forum, instead he said the Liberals would do so in the coming weeks. He hinted the announcement would include comprehensive service standards for tenants and support for community housing providers. "Let's get serious about allowing community housing providers to get ahead," Mr Parton. Housing Minister Yvette Berry said Labor wanted to grow both public and community housing. "[It's] not a competition, we need both public and community housing to grow in the territory," she said. Ms Berry also did not make any announcements at the forum. She spoke about previously announced measures such as the "Housing First" pilot, the Common Ground projects in Gungahlin and Dickson and the government's $260 million investment in renewing and growing public housing. Ms Berry also told the forum she had recently asked the Suburban Land Agency to revalue land prices in light of the pandemic. She said prices were 5 per cent lower than last year. Ms Berry also reiterated previous calls on federal government issues and said other jurisdictions needed to do more. "Other state and territories need to lift their game as well," she said. While Mr Parton said the Liberals would work on federal investment he said the territory government could deliver more. "When it comes to the feds, I'd back us over them," he said. Community Housing Industry Association chair Andrew Hannan said while Commonwealth help was needed states and territories could not wait for comparable action. Land affordability was also raised with community housing providers saying they could not afford the cost of land in the territory. "There's access to land... other states have access to land," Havelock Housing Association chief executive Andrew Rowe said. "We don't have land in the ACT." READ MORE: It came as the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation chief executive Nathan Dal Bon said no ACT organisation had been given a loan from the affordable housing bond aggregator. The bond aggregator was announced by the federal government in 2017 and provides low-cost, long-term loans to registered community housing providers. Mr Dal Bon said while there had been expressions of interests from ACT providers no transactions had been made. ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury spoke about the party's previously announced $400 million investment in housing. The party has proposed to build 400 public housing dwellings and 600 community housing properties. He said housing was the party's most important policy. The ACT Council of Social Service also released its election wishlist for affordable housing and homelessness in the territory. It included a commitment to a full delivery of the ACT Housing Strategy, an increase in effective land transfers between the government and community housing providers, a youth homelessness service and the development of an Indigenous housing strategy. "ACTCOSS is calling on every party in the 2020 election to make housing a priority and to ensure that every Canberran has a safe and secure home," council chief executive Emma Campbell said.