Canberra public housing levels in each ACT suburb

As well, the government says there will be challenges with land availability and sector capacity.

The new public housing properties will be added to the government's long-term plans to redevelop and add more dwellings to the territory's stock.

More than 100 properties were added to Housing ACT's overall stock in the past financial year.

As of June 30, there were 11,704 social housing properties in the territory, an increase of 122 properties on the year before.

A Community Services Directorate spokeswoman said 256 properties had been added to Housing ACT's portfolio in the 12 months to June 30, but 134 had been removed.

The spokeswoman said properties had been sold, redeveloped or sold to tenants.

A comparison of public housing suburb data from the 2018-19 financial year to the 2019-20 financial year showed Taylor had the greatest increase in the number of public housing properties with a rise of 37.

The suburb data, released under freedom of information laws, showed Gungahlin had the second highest increase (up 33) followed by Denman Prospect (up 24), Chapman (up 18) and Holder (up 16).

Kambah had the greatest decrease at 13 properties, followed by Ainslie (down nine) and Lyons (down six).

Along with the 400 public housing properties, the Labor and Greens power-sharing agreement has also stipulated the government would aim to deliver 600 affordable rentals.

The commitment is seen as a victory for the Greens who took the policy to the election as part of a $400 million housing package.

But there are concerns there are not enough new properties to grow the overall stock and fill a growing shortfall.

Estimates have suggested there is a social housing shortfall of about 3000 in the territory, and the ACT Council of Social Service says the government needed to set higher targets.

"While we welcome the agreed initiatives on housing including public housing units, ACTCOSS believes that the new government needs to set more ambitious targets to address Canberra's housing crisis," council chief executive Dr Emma Campbell said.

"Community housing needs to be a strong focus if we are to meet the current shortfall of 3000 social houses in the ACT."

Housing ACT has a target to build an extra 150 public housing dwellings by the end of this financial year. The target was set prior to the parliamentary and governing agreement and the Community Services Directorate said this would not change in light of the agreement.

The Community Services Directorate spokeswoman said construction was under way on 80 properties and a further 14 were waiting for building approval.

A number of the properties to be built this financial year will be on former Mr Fluffy blocks, after it was revealed the government purchased remediated blocks for public housing.

The ACT government's program, announced in 2019, initially aimed to renew 1000 properties and build 200 new properties. But earlier this year Labor announced it would build an extra 60 new properties.

This number will now grow to 400 under the Labor-Greens power-sharing agreement, an increase of 140. However, the Community Services Directorate has said there would be constraints with this target.

"A mixture of existing land holdings and new land will be required to deliver these properties, acknowledging there are significant challenges in land availability, industry and sector capacity to deliver additional housing and capital demand on the territory budget," the spokeswoman said.

The same statement is also in the parliamentary and governing agreement where it was referred to in the commitment to deliver 600 affordable rentals.

Labor has faced criticism from community housing providers for a lack of investment into the sector.

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In the 2018-19 financial year, only 646 of the 11,582 properties owned by the Commissioner for Social Housing were managed by a community housing provider.

While the agreement does not specify if all the affordable rentals will be managed by a community housing provider, Community Housing Canberra chief executive Andrew Hannan was optimistic.

"The new parliamentary and governing agreement provides great cause for optimism for CHC and the tenants we support, and more broadly the community housing sector as a whole," he said.

"Noting pressures on the ACT government's budget, we look forward to engaging on proven and cost effective models the sector has been implementing that would enable their commitment to be delivered."