The ACT Greens have launched their first policy platform for the 2024 election: addressing the housing crisis they claim is caused by private market commodification.

“Having a stable, secure home is a fundamental requirement for living a decent life in this city,” party leader Shane Rattenbury said. “The Greens’ vision is that we live in a city where people have access to safe, secure, and affordable housing, and that the government plays an important rôle in that.”

The Greens would commit $2.2 billion to build and buy 10,000 public homes over the next decade – “the biggest housing affordability initiative ever proposed in the history of self-government”, deputy leader (and current homelessness minister) Rebecca Vassarotti said.

This is a more ambitious target than the ACT Government’s policy to renew 1,000 public housing dwellings and add 400 new public homes to the portfolio by the end of 2026–27. But there are 3,145 people waiting for public housing in the ACT, including more than 2,000 people waiting three years for high needs housing, and nearly 1,000 people waiting, on average, more than five years for standard housing.

“Over the four years of the next term of government,” Mr Rattenbury said, “we will have enough homes to provide a home for every single person that is currently on the waiting list: over 3,000 people…

“This is an essential spend for our community. Right now, people are struggling to simply get the basic needs of housing met in this city. We see people having to spend exorbitant amounts of their income just to get a roof over their heads, or not being able to get a roof. We see a public housing waiting list with over 3,000 people. Government has not invested enough in public housing over the last few decades; we now have a significant backlog.”

The Greens envisage that Housing ACT, currently seen as a social housing landlord, would become the landlord of choice for Canberrans.

The Greens plan to build 500 new homes each year for the first two years, and then “step it up”.

They would establish a government-owned public housing developer and builder. Unlike private developers, who operate as individual entities and prioritise profit margins, Ms Vassarotti said, this entity would focus on providing homes rather than maximising profit. By leveraging bulk purchasing and co-ordinating skills and trades, it would address housing needs more effectively.

A government-owned public housing maintenance provider would in-source repairs to the 10,000 properties in the ACT’s current portfolio, offering certainty, enabling better scheduling of work, and obtaining the best value for money, Ms Vassarotti said.

A manufacturing hub would quickly and efficiently construct public homes using innovative technologies like prefabrication and modular fabrication.

The Greens would also set up a pilot project so home-owners could sell their homes to the government to contribute to public housing stock.

How the Greens would finance their housing policy

The platform will cost $2.2 billion, but the Greens insist their policy is both affordable and will save government money on other areas.

They would raise the necessary sums through a mixture of federal government co-contribution; borrowing money; and budget resources.

Bottom-line costs over the first four years would be $228 million.

“In the context of an $8 billion budget each year, that is a fairly modest cost, particularly when we look at what we’re getting for that spend,” Ms Vassarotti said.

It would, Mr Rattenbury said, “bring significant savings back to government” by reducing spending on social services in corrections, health, and other areas “that are significant pressures on the budget”. The health system and community infrastructure, Ms Vassarotti said, are “completely stretched” because of homelessness and housing stress.

Greens candidate Sam Nugent said she was left homeless after a violent divorce; she ended up sleeping under her office desk or in her car. She believes this policy would have made a big difference.

“With a plan like this, you can actually think: OK, there are less expensive options than the private rental market. If that was available back then, I never would have thought: OK, I need to find a new landlord, I need to rent again. How am I going to pay all of the legal fees for this divorce? How am I going to even keep a roof over my head? It was overwhelming.”

Ms Vassarotti blamed Liberal and Labor government policies – commodifying housing, and treating it as a way to create health rather than to provide homes – for creating the housing crisis.

Neither ACT Labor nor the Canberra Liberals, however, thought the Greens’ policy would work.

ACT Labor: Greens are making promises they cannot keep

ACT Labor Housing spokeswoman Yvette Berry, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, said: “The Greens are making promises to vulnerable Canberrans that they know they can’t possibly keep.

“The Greens political party have been part of the ACT Government for almost a decade. They know better and they should be upfront with the community about the huge hurdles to implement this policy. Where is the workforce going to come from? Where will the houses be located? What will be the impact on other essential government services?

“ACT Labor has a proven track record to build more and better public housing. We are working hard every day to ensure every Canberran has the chance to build, rent or buy a home where they want to live.”

Canberra Liberals: ‘Unachievable’

“This unachievable policy put forward by the ACT Greens, a coalition partner that has been in government with Labor since 2012, would be disastrous for the future of the ACT,” Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee said.

“This approach to housing is nothing more than grandstanding by the ACT Greens and a cut and paste copy of the Federal Greens policy that was widely slammed by a number of property experts.

“The Labor-Greens government already fails to meet its own land release targets; how would it be any different going forward?

“There is no realistic explanation of how these tens of thousands of new homes will be delivered. If they haven’t delivered more public housing dwellings in the 12 years they’ve been in government, they won’t ever deliver them.

“Labor and the Greens have long neglected public housing. We have fewer public housing dwellings now than a decade ago; all under a current Greens Minister in charge of homelessness and housing services. Let’s not forget that the Leader of the ACT Greens and former Greens Housing Minister, Shane Rattenbury, helped sell hundreds of public housing dwellings to pay for the tram.

“By their own admission, this policy will cost Canberra taxpayers $5.9 billion which will put the Territory’s finances into an even more diabolical state.

“So far, the ACT Greens want to spend more than $4 billion on the tram to Woden and now want to spend almost $6 billion on a policy that will do nothing to fix the mess they have created with public housing.

“Canberrans will soon be paying almost $2 million a day in interest repayments on this government’s eyewatering debt. Imagine the impact of this policy on Canberrans’ hip pockets during a cost of living crisis.

“This announcement demonstrates exactly why it is dangerous having Greens in government, and if this is what Andrew Barr’s Cabinet Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services is putting forward as policy, Canberrans have every right to be seriously concerned.”

ACTCOSS: A ‘sensible’ plan that would fix the ACT’s housing problem

The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS), however, welcomed the Greens’ election promise, and CEO Dr Devin Bowles called on other parties and candidates “to commit to similarly transformative change of the ACT’s housing system”.

“Business as usual, with a reliance on the market to provide housing to all, has clearly failed,” Dr Bowles said. “The waiting list for standard priority public housing applicants is five years, a figure that has remained far too high for many years.

“Over recent years, affordable housing has become out of reach for an increasing number of Canberrans, including many young people starting their careers and in full-time work.

“In many jurisdictions internationally, the government is a landlord of choice, rather than of last resort. This approach means that the benefits of public housing are widely shared.

“Most Canberrans care about someone who could directly benefit from expanded public housing, whether that is a friend, a child, a parent, or themselves.

“Twenty-five years ago, the ACT Government owned a much larger share of Canberra’s total housing stock. This plan is a sensible return to that approach.

“Many families and businesses know that investing in real estate makes good financial sense. The same should be true for government, especially when a lack of affordable housing jeopardises the ACT’s economic growth.

“Many community sector organisations report their workers leaving the ACT because they cannot afford the housing. A substantial expansion of public housing would alleviate this stress for the community sector and help businesses hire the people they need to grow.

“An increase of 10,000 new public housing dwellings would not only fix Canberra’s homelessness problem, it would provide housing to those who are employed but unable to afford secure accommodation.”