His comments came at the ACT Council of Social Service leaders forum on Wednesday, ahead of the October territory election, where he faced off with Opposition Leader Alistair Coe and Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury.

Mr Barr was pressed by ACTCOSS CEO Emma Campbell on why his government had been unable to effectively tackle persistent rental stress and housing affordability problems in Canberra.

But he rejected the suggestion the problem was particularly apparent in Canberra. He instead put the blame firmly on federal government policies. "If housing stress was unique to the ACT then I could accept that line of questioning, but this is a challenge everywhere," he said.

"There are two key policies that are driving this. It's the federal government position on capital gains tax and negative gearing that have turned housing into an investment earning asset, not shelter and a human right.

"What we can do is to continue to invest in more housing and continue to release more land for housing to be built."

Mr Barr said an increase in welfare was key to lifting Canberrans out of poverty.

"Raising incomes is fundamental to that challenge. Building more houses is the other part of that equation," he said.

Mr Coe said there was a debate to be had about raising Newstart and other welfare payments.

"But what is wholly within the scope of the ACT are of course the rates, taxes, fees and charges that all Canberrans pay," he said.

"I just don't think it's reasonable that kids who grew up in this city can't afford to live in a city that they call home."

Mr Coe said there needed to be more land made available for freestanding homes.

"It means actually making sure that [community housing] organisations like CHC and Havelock, YWCA and others have the financial leverage to be able to invest in the ACT," he said.

"They used to have that leverage, they used to have those opportunities, they used to have the land.

"We should be able to do this, Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and Canberra is arguably the wealthiest city in that country."

Pressed by Dr Campbell on how he would pay for his proposals, on top of promises to freeze rates, Mr Coe argued Canberra was losing too many people to NSW in search of more affordable housing and rates.

"I don't think we should be encouraging satellite towns outside of the ACT full of exiles - people who have been driven over the border," he said.

"We've seen this sort of policy failure in America."

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Mr Rattenbury said housing should be made a priority.

"We need in this city over the next four years housing more than we need random road duplications across out city," he said.

But he did not support Canberra's urban fringe being expanded, instead calling for a "compact city".

"We don't want to cross the Murrumbidgee River, we don't want to go out to Kowen. We want to provide accommodation where there are also services, where there is good public transport," Mr Rattenbury said.