ACT Council of Social Service chief executive Dr Emma Campbell told the standing committee on planning, transport and city services that housing choice was a secondary issue to a lack of housing in Canberra.

"We're worried that this draft variation will indicate that boarding houses are somehow a way of solving the issues faced by people on low incomes who are struggling to find appropriate accommodation. And yet there are huge risks around boarding houses, particularly if they're unregulated," Dr Campbell said.

The committee is investigating a proposed variation to the territory plan, which would make it easier to build boarding houses in suburban areas.

The change, which adopts a recommendation of a 2018 collaboration hub, would improve access to housing choices in Canberra, the ACT government says.

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Boarding houses principally provide "long-term accommodation where meals, laundry or other services are provided only to those residents of the boarding house".

ACT Shelter chief executive Travis Gilbert said boarding houses without any oversight would put residents at risk, many of whom had no other choice of accommodation.

Mr Gilbert said the regulated aged care sector had been shown to fail vulnerable residents in a royal commission, but the boarding house sector would have even less oversight.

"If there is no regulation or licensing system, nobody even knows about it," Mr Gilbert said.

"Choice is indeed quite a privileged concept. And you may find yourself in a boarding or rooming house because at one point you missed a rental payment, you were blacklisted and placed on a tenancy database, and no private landlord will take you."

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