ACT public housing not expected to have notable increase for another two years

Construction timeframes for public housing properties have also blown out with the average build taking about 18 months, up from about 12 months.

Despite this, the ACT Housing Minister Yvette Berry has said the government still planned to meet its target to renew 1000 and add 400 new public housing properties by 2025.

The 2021-22 annual report from the government's Community and Services Directorate showed the ACT government had 10,723 public housing properties. The commissioner for social housing also owned 867 other properties that are managed by community housing providers.

This was down from the previous year where there were 10,853 public housing properties. In 2020-21 there were 742 other properties managed by community housing providers.

Ms Berry said the government's so-called growth and renewal program would not have a consistent increase in the number of properties until the program nears its end. She said the number of properties would fluctuate as properties are sold and redeveloped.

"A whole range of things have to match up together to get new houses built and to get people into homes you have to move people from homes, we have to demolish those homes, we have to sell those homes and we have to build new homes," Ms Berry said.

"All that doesn't happen in a nice straight line it is a bumpy line."

Ms Berry fronted an annual reporting hearing on Thursday where she was asked by opposition housing spokesman Mark Parton to confirm the ACT population had increased by 25 per cent over the past 10 years while public housing numbers had dropped.

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Ms Berry acknowledged the population had increased but did not explicitly say public housing numbers were lower, instead she said there was more community housing in the territory and took a swipe at the opposition.

"I would agree that the population has gone up but I would also say that there are also more community housing providers and provision across the ACT as well as public housing," she said.

"And I would also note that the ACT has the highest, second to the Northern Territory, of public housing per capita in the country and that our investment in public housing is also the highest, second to the Northern Territory, in the country as well.

"It's definitely 1000 more than it would have been 10 years ago under the Canberra Liberals."

The ACT government has also come under fire this year over its relocation program after more than 300 letters were sent to tenants this year telling them they would be moved to a new public housing property. The government had planned to sell 291 properties and redevelop 46. However, it was revealed 47 people had been granted an exemption.

Ms Berry and Housing ACT officials were pressed by the standing committee on Health and Community Wellbeing about the rate of sales of older public housing properties.

"What I would like to better understand is the rationale of selling properties at the rates that were selling them when they are so many challenges that perhaps were unexpected at the time this program commenced ," committee chair Johnathan Davis said.

"It appears to me we're letting them go quicker than we can get them built."

Housing ACT executive group manager Louise Gilding said a range of factors including material supply, labour supply and wet weather.

"We have seen our construction build time increase significantly," she said

"When we bring all of those factors in, at the beginning of the program, and this applies to everyone doing residential construction, it would take us about nine to 12 months to build. At the moment, because all of those factors I mentioned, it's taking probably 18 months."

Mr Davis asked whether targets had been reconsidered or adjusted in light of the challenges being faced. Ms Gilding said there were constant conversations about the situation, Mr Davis said he specifically wanted to know whether targets had been readjusted to which Ms Berry interjected to say the target remained the same.

"We've got a target of 1000 homes in our public housing renewal program and 400 new and that's in the [parliamentary and governing agreement] and that's what we have agreed to with the Greens," Ms Berry said.

Meanwhile, Mr Parton has also taken aim at Housing ACT after officials were unable to say how many public housing properties would meet the government's new minimum emergency efficiency standard for rental properties.

"There are over 11,000 properties in the Housing ACT portfolio - the assessment alone will take years to determine non-compliance and cost millions of dollars let alone the cost of installing insulation in potentially millions of homes," Mr Parton said.

"At $5000 an installation for an average house just for the roof and using the 4000 older homes quoted by Housing ACT in the hearings is a cost of at least $20 million."

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