The ACT Government’s Growing and Renewing Public Housing Program has promised to deliver 1,400 new homes, including 400 public housing dwellings. Housing minister Yvette Berry says the government’s ambition is both to grow the public housing stock and to improve its quality. But neither the Canberra Liberals nor the ACT Greens think the program is working, as a motion in the Legislative Assembly yesterday revealed.

Mark Parton, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness, believes housing has become a “dysfunctional basket case” and “a shambles … under the stewardship of this government”.

Greens MLA Johnathan Davis states “that our public housing portfolio is in structural, long-term decline”, while the Growing and Renewing Public Housing Program itself is “hugely problematic and flawed”.

The waiting list for public housing has increased by 44 per cent over three years: from 2,209 people in August 2020 to 3,175 this year, Mr Parton noted. Since 2017–18, there were 333 fewer dwellings in the public housing stock, despite the ACT Government investing more than $1 billion in public housing growth and renewal since 2014. And the delivery date for the 400 public housing dwellings has been pushed out by two years, from 2025 (in the Parliamentary and Governing Agreement) to 2026–27.

“They [the government] just have not delivered,” Mr Parton said. “Every year, there are more heartfelt promises and we do not see the outcome that has been promised.”

“We have not yet seen the size of our public housing portfolio increase,” Mr Davis said. “No matter how many times we say we are growing public housing, we are just not.”

In passing, Mr Parton noted other examples of dysfunction: public housing properties vacant for six months, some for nearly a decade; poor public housing maintenance; and growing incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Even the housing and homelessness minister, Rebecca Vassarotti (Greens), is concerned about the waiting list.

“Applicants on the priority waiting list wait on average over nine months,” she said. “And for the over 2,000 applicants with high needs … the average wait time balloons to over three years. Those waiting for public housing are waiting in limbo. They are waiting too long to access the stability they need to build a good life for themselves and their families. The only way we will solve this is by providing more public housing.”

In the Legislative Assembly yesterday, Mr Parton called for the ACT Government to publicly release both a six-monthly snapshot of public housing stock (including complete numbers of renewed properties, newly built properties, properties sold, and existing properties purchased) and a six-monthly update on the progress of meeting the growth and renewal targets.

He also called on the government to rule out any additional extensions to the deadline on the addition of 400 new dwellings to the public housing stock. Mr Davis added an amendment that the government must honour its aim in the Parliamentary and Governing Agreement to deliver 400 additional public housing dwellings by 2025.

Managing the sale of public housing

Johnathan Davis also remarked that the government provided inconsistent and contradictory information “that makes it very hard to get a clear and accurate assessment of the state of our public housing portfolio”.

“Any given day, there will be different figures put out about the total number of stock… These figures change regularly, and a cynic might argue they change regularly because the government will put out the number which most favourably represents their work on any given day.”

Many figures contradicted independent assessments, including the Pegasus Economics Report prepared for the Budget Committee, Mr Davis noted.

“Increasing public housing in the ACT is a complex issue, but we are on it and we are up to it,” Yvette Berry said. The motion, she said, would enable her to “provide even more regular updates to the Assembly about the program and where we are up to, and the different kinds of initiatives and innovative solutions that we are coming up with in order to ensure that every person in the ACT that needs a home can get one out of our public housing stock”.

Likewise, Rebecca Vassarotti welcomed the motion and amendments as “an opportunity for more transparency and accountability to the public about how the government is performing against its own public housing targets. These updates would provide the information needed to assess existing policy and consider new policy options as necessary.”

The government, Ms Berry stated, was delivering both the growth (400 additional dwellings) and renewal (redeveloping existing properties to end up with 1,000 new properties) at the same time.

It was developing and selling properties that had reached the end of their lives – properties that were ageing, not accessible, not comfortable, and expensive to heat and cool.

“It is untenable for us in this place to suggest that public housing tenants should live in substandard properties,” Ms Berry said.

However, the minister stated, although the government was on track to deliver the 400 additional properties by 2025, the public housing stock would not increase by 400 immediately.

“This program was always going to involve fluctuations in the public housing stock numbers because we are knocking down older, unsuitable, no longer fit for purpose properties to build more,” Ms Berry said. “The numbers go down before they go up.”

But Mr Davis reminded the Assembly that the Select Committee into Cost of Living Pressures, which he chaired, had recommended that the ACT Government manage the sale of public housing to ensure the portfolio stock was not in decline at any one time.

“Do not sell another home or knock another one down until you have already replaced it,” he said.

So far, Ms Berry stated in a ministerial statement earlier that day, 218 dwellings have been demolished for redevelopment; 515 end of use public housing properties have been sold, resulting in a $386.9 million reinvestment into public housing; 114 land sites have been purchased; 402 dwellings have been constructed; and 131 dwellings have been purchased from the market.

This week, 30 new accessible and environmentally sustainable public housing dwellings opened in Calwell.

Tenant relocation process ‘flawed’

However, Yvette Berry acknowledged, the tenant relocation process within the Growing and Renewing Public Housing Program – mandatory relocations from properties that could be redeveloped or sold to generate revenue – was flawed. The government had paused the process, following a report from the ACT Ombudsman earlier this month. It found that the program was “clearly well-intentioned and based on legitimate public policy goals”, but its implementation was not planned adequately.

“Housing ACT’s communication and engagement with tenants required to relocate as part of the program was not nearly as good as it should have been,” Ms Berry told the Assembly.

“Further, the public housing properties selected for sale or redevelopment as part of the program were chosen before considering the circumstances of the tenants living in these properties.

“Public housing tenants were hurt by these mistakes and for that, I did not hesitate to apologise.”

Housing ACT and community service partners (including ACTCOSS, ADACAS, Canberra Community Law, and the Human Rights Commission) will work on a new process to determine which tenants and properties will be included in the Growing and Renewing Program, Ms Berry said.

“I am committed to finding a new way to carry out the relocations that are necessary for the expansion and improvement of our public housing portfolio,” she said.

“The bottom line is the Territory’s population is growing. Household composition is changing. Cost of living pressures are increasing. We must not lose sight of the need to increase the number of public and social houses in the ACT or the need to upgrade properties that are no longer delivering an acceptable standard of living to our tenants.”