ACT government defends slow progress on public housing as thousands wait

The Growing and Renewing Housing Public Housing program began in 2019 and aims to add 400 additional dwellings to Canberra's public housing stock, and replace 1000 with more modern, energy efficient alternatives by 2025.

As at June 30, the ACT government has completed 219 construction dwellings, bought 93 sites and purchased 101 land sites.

ACT Housing Minister Yvette Berry was contacted for comment on the issue, but an ACT government spokesperson responded instead.

The spokesperson said while the program has been affected by pressures on the construction industry due to COVID-19, more progress is expected in the remaining three years.

"The program is not linear, and the number of properties will increase in the latter years of the program as the pipeline grows," the spokesperson said.

"Noting the required steps in the process - tenants move, sites are sold, demolition takes place, design and planning approval completed, procurement completed, construction and then delivery and allocation."

The most recent reporting shows there are 3060 applications on the waitlist for public housing in the ACT.

Asked about why the ACT had only committed 400 houses to meet this need, the spokesperson said the ACT was "among the national leaders in providing social housing to those most in need".

They also pointed out that previous federal governments had not funded public housing in the ACT for the last decade.

"The election of a federal Labor Albanese government represents [an] opportunity for the federal government to contribute to national housing crisis, by delivering a national housing and homelessness plan and delivering 30,000 social and affordable homes across the country."

Originally written into the Labor-Greens power-sharing deal in 2020, progress on the program will be published online "in the coming months" with the government's election and Parliamentary and Governing Agreement commitments.

Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT chief executive Sue Webeck said the organisation was increasingly advocating for clients affected by the shortage of public housing.

"We see that the instability of housing and the economic security that can come with access to housing does impact the decisions that people make about exiting relationships where violence is present because of the risk of housing instability or homelessness," she said.

"We know that the supply of housing and accommodation services is going to take time - you cannot magic up bricks and mortar."

"It is concerning that it is moving slowly but there are indications that it is moving and moving consistently which is incredibly positive."

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The shortage of long-term social housing has also caused wait times for crisis and transitional housing to balloon.

People in high-risk situations, such as those fleeing violence or sleeping rough, waited an average of 50.5 days for accommodation in March, longer than at any point during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If the housing stock is not going to be available over this period of time, then there needs to be a review of further downstream impacts, including the impacts to crisis accommodation and frontline service agency," Ms Webeck said.

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