Mark Parton | Andrew Barr's solutions for ACT's housing aren't very clear

Before I break down their promises, I need to make it very clear that Housing ACT public housing numbers have fallen over the last 10 years while the population has grown by over 25 per cent.

The $345 million of Labor-Greens housing initiatives in the budget documents report three components - social housing assistance, more affordable rental housing and home ownership, and wider housing choice and quality.

This section totals $265 million, and contains the following: $177m for Housing ACT to "maintain and grow portfolio numbers while continuing to provide maintenance and tenancy services."

So is this for new housing or simple additional appropriation for maintenance and Housing ACT administration? But given the number of maintenance complaints streaming to my office via the email, phone calls and social media messages, this could just be a band-aid to stem the bleeding.

Then there is a separate item of $56 million for "growing and renewing public housing". Is this for new and additional housing? Again, it is unclear. This program, according to page 268 of the budget outlook, shows 706 properties demolished or sold, and only 435 constructed or acquired since 2019-20. This is a net reduction of 241 properties, though I note they reference that 112 land sites have been bought since 2019-20.

Have these been built yet? How many dwellings have these yielded, and are they counted in the 435 new properties? How many more properties do they plan to sell off or demolish over coming years?

As you can see, it is all very opaque.

There is also $20 million over four years for the expansion of specialist homelessness services which is most welcome but does not deliver any additional housing.

The bulk of this $62-million section is the $60 million Affordable Housing Project Fund.

It is admirable to see the government finally working with the community housing sector but they need to ensure they provide sufficient funding and support to actually induce a response that leads to new housing. Whatever the support is, it has to be substantial on a project-by-project basis as building costs are at record highs and the government is not providing any free or subsidised land to community housing providers to help make projects stack up.

It is also worth noting in the budget the government have not published the details of how the $60 million will be spent over the forward estimates. Where that information should be, on page 115 of the budget outlook, they have published "NFP" or '"ot for publication". It is because they do not know when, where or how much will be delivered.

They are also releasing build-to-rent sites in Turner and Gungahlin, which again relies on a response from a party other than the government. The Turner site tender closed in December last year and after seven months there has been no announcement of a sale. Again, no new housing in sight.

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This $19-million package involves $11 million for due diligence, additional funding for a park and more funding for the Sustainable Household Scheme. So more solar panels, a park and more money for more consultants, but no more houses.

So in short, there appears to be nothing clearly and unambiguously tangible that will increase Canberra's housing stock. Where are tangible things like free land with caveats for community housing providers that will, with complete certainty, lead to any increase in housing?

The Labor-Greens government have been restricting land supply for the last 11 years under Andrew Barr and Shane Rattenbury. They have caused the housing crisis and the budget housing announcement is sadly much more sizzle than tangible sausage in trying to make a real impact on this pressing and urgent issue for the Canberra community.