ANALYSIS

"The ACT government believes every Canberran, no matter their circumstances should have access to safe and affordable housing that suits their needs," Housing Minister Yvette Berry said this week.

Ms Berry made these comments as she trumpeted a new $61 million investment into public housing in the territory. However, a closer look reveals the investment is only a small increase on what had already been promised.

The money will be split three ways - $32 million worth of land will be allocated to public housing, $20 million will go towards the renewal and build of new properties and $8.9 million will be for maintenance.

Most punters applauded the investment, but wanted assurances there would be further investment.

The announcement came two days after data showed Canberra had a social housing shortfall of 3000 properties, and that was prior to the pandemic - the number is expected to increase. This latest announcement won't do much to improve the shortfall.

As part of its 2018 housing strategy, the ACT government had already announced a five-year program to grow and renew public housing. The program, which started in 2019, would see 200 new dwellings built and 1000 renewed.

When spruiking the latest investment this week, the government said it would build 260 new public housing properties. This included the 200 already promised, so this latest announcement only added 60 to the pipeline - and added another year to the program's delivery.

The additional $61 million investment would take the ACT government's total investment in public housing over 10 years to $1 billion. The government did not give an indication on how many properties would be yielded from the $32 million worth of land.

When asked by The Canberra Times if the government planned to make any further announcement, Chief Minister Andrew Barr was quick to defend his government's investment.

"We're not finishing here, but we don't want you to think this $1 billion is insignificant," he said.

While a $1 billion over 10 years is nothing to baulk at, the extra 300 or so dwellings that will be created in the next five years will at best make a small dent in the overall housing shortfall.

At the same press conference, Ms Berry deflected questions about the shortfall and instead pointed out the ACT had the highest per capita investment, at 26 properties per 1000 people. But for the almost 2500 people on the social housing waiting list, per capita investment is a meaningless statistic.

In the meantime, those on the list will struggle to find an affordable rental. According to Anglicare, there were no affordable rentals in Canberra or Queanbeyan for those on income support prior to the coronavirus supplement. Even on the doubled JobSeeker rate of $1100 a fortnight, only 2.5 per cent of properties were considered affordable to a single person on that payment.

Community housing providers say the announcement represented a missed opportunity. While the Community Housing Industry Association of the ACT welcomed the announcement, region director and chairman Andrew Hannan said he believed that with the same investment a community housing provider could deliver 240 additional dwellings, not 60.

"An equivalent investment that instead leveraged the community housing sector as the delivery vehicle would yield at least a fourfold impact, given the ability to use any territory contribution to attract concessional finance through the Commonwealth and attract private investment partners, on top of providers' own balance sheets," he said.

"We think that ACT residents care more about outcomes rather than whether the delivery arm is the government itself, or the tightly regulated independent not-for-profit community housing providers in partnership with the private sector, a trend that is increasingly been seen in every other jurisdictions in Australia."

Havelock Housing Association chief executive Andrew Rowe also questioned the importance of per capita investment. He said the only reason the ACT had the highest number of properties per 1000 people was because other jurisdictions had turned toward the community housing sector.

ACT Shelter chief executive Travis Gilbert offered cautious support for the government's investment.

But he said without further incentives and reforms the government would not meet its housing strategy goals of reducing homelessness and strengthening social housing assistance.

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"ACT Shelter supports the growing and renewing public housing program, but the reality is we are not growing social housing supply," he said.

"Social landlords provide 6.2 per cent of total residential housing in the ACT. [The] announcement commits to growing the asset portfolio by just 2.5 per cent over the next six years, effectively reducing the proportion of newly built homes for Canberrans most in need by more than 50 per cent between now and 2026."

What the ACT government and industry groups agree on is that the territory cannot do much without help from the federal government.

While the federal government has made announcements for construction stimulus, none have included new social housing.

The ACT government has said it would lobby for federal government investment into social housing. Ms Berry said Commonwealth investment would make a "significant difference". She also said if the federal government waived a $115 million housing debt the ACT could build more public housing.

CHIA has also put forward a proposal to the federal government to build 30,000 social housing dwellings across the country over four years. In the ACT this would amount to 600 new properties.

The Social Housing Acceleration and Renovation Program (SHARP) proposed federal government investment for community housing providers to building new dwellings. It would follow a similar scheme introduced by the Rudd government after the 2008 global financial crisis.

The coronavirus crisis will exacerbate demand for both affordable and social housing - and governments will have to account for that.