There is a sound argument for the ACT giving land away to help housing crisis

That said, even if land is available, projects need to be financially viable.

Through its Affordable Housing Fund, the ACT government is helping with this challenge by essentially giving rental supplements for extended periods to investments run by the community housing providers (CHPs) e.g. say the equivalent of an extra $10,000 per property per year for 10 years.

These rental supplements are in addition to the rental supplements under the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) - also called availability payments - which could be up to $25,000 per year per property for 25 years. The announcement of HAFF round one grant recipients are not far away.

So in addition to delivering much needed new housing, a new institutional and high-net-wealth investment class is being created backed by long term government funding.

Does the ACT government need to give away so much money (in addition to the federal government HAFF funding) given the appalling state of the ACT budget?

Could that money be better allocated given another ACT government credit rating downgrade could be just around the corner?

With almost $20 billion of forecast borrowings and an annual deficit heading towards $1 billion a year, every dollar raised by or granted to the ACT government should be treated as a scarce resource.

Why not just "give" land away to community housing providers to help make projects financially viable?

Less would have to be borrowed, as the rent would be financing a much smaller investment by the community housing provider.

It has been done before.

Project Independence (who according to their mission statement "transform the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing a safe, caring, and sustainable environment where they can thrive with the support and guidance of their community, and where they can build financial security by investing in home equity") have been given three blocks of land to deliver housing at different stage over the last 11 years or so.

Kudos to the ACT government.

And giving it away can simply be in the form of a rebadged "investment".

For example, why not provide the land on a $1 per year peppercorn rent 99 year lease?

Or contribute the land and retain an equity share (and waive the rights to your share of the rent)?

That way the land remains an ACT government asset.

Or perhaps actually give the land away but with conditions?

Give the land away with a caveat that it can only be used for community housing.

The Demonstration Housing Project which commenced in 2018 aims to test innovative forms of housing to address the emerging needs of Canberrans. Now sic years later (and after announcing six projects way back in 2019), how many of these projects have begun? I understand the answer to be only one.

As part of these development being built, the land has to be paid for at market value. Perhaps there are lots of reasons for the delays with the demonstration housing projects but I would bet that this land being "gifted" in some form would help get the project moving very quickly.

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It is important to never forget that we are in this housing mess because of dramatic underinvestment over the last decade in public and community housing by the ACT government - we have less now than we did over a decade ago when Canberra was a much smaller city. What is done is done - the ACT government needs to make up for lost time and inaction with absolute urgency and haste.

Gifting land in some form would make projects stack up financially and lead to more projects getting built. And more projects means more housing providing much needed support and security for our most vulnerable Canberrans. HAFF round two will be sometime in the next 12 months and represents a great opportunity for the ACT government to support the delivery of large volumes of new community housing.