Housing and homelessness are the most important issues in the ACT election: homelessness is worsening while the housing supply has shrunk, and the government’s response is not working, the ACT Council of Social Service and ACT Shelter, which advocates for housing for low-income people, believe.

This morning, at the end of Homelessness Week, the two organisations called for political parties and candidates to commit to a more ambitious social housing policy.

“The housing system is failing Canberra,” Dr Devin Bowles, CEO of ACTCOSS, said. “Across Australia, distorted policy settings favour investors over owner-occupiers, and renters are going upstream in a Canberra property market that’s stacked against them. Ultimately, this stems from a view of housing that prioritises it as an investment class, rather than as a basic human right.”

Over the last three decades, Dr Bowles noted, ACT governments have reduced the proportion of social housing stock, from 12 per cent of all housing in the ACT to only 5.7 per cent today. In terms of actual numbers, ACT Shelter CEO Travis Gilbert noted, the ACT had more public housing properties in 1994 than it does today.

The organisations want the proportion restored to 10 per cent by 2036 – i.e., about 19,500 homes; at present, there are only 11,000 homes, Mr Gilbert said.

Market rents, let alone owning a house, are unaffordable for many, particularly in a cost-of-living crisis, the organisations noted. As a result, waiting lists have “ballooned” to more than 3,000 applicants (around 5,000, possibly even 7,000 people), for the first time in ACT Shelter’s history; those who need standard housing wait more than five years.

“They are individual tragedies for every person and family that has to endure homelessness in one of the wealthiest communities in the world,” Dr Bowles said. “These aren’t surprises, but they are one of the greatest policy failures in our community’s history.”

In fact, there are 900 more applicants than before the 2020 election – a 40 per cent increase, the organisations remarked. This puts pressure on other services, such as homelessness, family violence, mental and physical health, alcohol and other drugs, policing and justice. The ACT Government’s Growing and Renewing Public Housing program is inadequate; although intended to add 400 new homes to the public housing portfolio, as the Auditor-General found, it will not result in a real increase in public housing stock, due to population growth.

Homelessness is worsening in the ACT, too, the speakers observed: every night, refuges, crisis services, and other homeless accommodation services are full; and having to turn people away.

“Within just a few 100 metres of [the Legislative Assembly], there are people who routinely sleep rough,” Dr Bowles said. “Beyond that, though, is the rest of the iceberg, of which rough sleepers are only the tip. The number of people who are couch-surfing or staying in unsafe circumstances because they recognise that they can’t get help anywhere else is absolutely escalating.”

And, Mr Gilbert said: “No group have failed to realise their right to adequate housing more than people experiencing homelessness in this city. Yesterday morning was -6°. People die when they don’t have housing that meets a level or a standard that the rest of us take for granted. Their deaths are not often recorded as homelessness-related deaths; but we know that each winter, people die.”

In their election platform, A secure home for all, ACT Shelter and ACTCOSS have also called for parties to:

• Provide greater stability, security, and protection for people who rent: the rental market is among the most expensive in the nation, and tenants are often reluctant to stand up for their rights.
• Improve housing outcomes for people with disability, who are at a higher risk of homelessness and housing insecurity, due to low disability support payments and trouble finding appropriate homes; more than a quarter of social housing tenants have a disability.
• Prevent homelessness for people with mental health issues and other complex needs, who are over-represented in the homeless population, as the public housing system requires people to prove they are ‘housing ready’; service providers cannot cope with their needs and turn them away. ACTCOSS and ACT Shelter recommendations include tenancy support programs and ‘Housing First’, giving long-term homeless people a stable home first, rather than having to demonstrate their eligibility.
• Fund specialist homelessness services to meet demand: services are oriented toward crisis response, rather than prevention, are overwhelmed by increases in demand; services systems should be designed to prevent homelessness or to ensure homelessness is brief and does not recur.
• Support community-controlled housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: First Nations people are overrepresented among homeless people, due to systemic disadvantages and discrimination. ACTCOSS and ACT Shelter recommend the government develop a strategy or plan in partnership with them, and provide community-controlled housing.
• Improve co-ordination of services and support, including domestic and family violence services, health and mental health care, disability services, education or employment, and financial and legal assistance. Policies and funding mechanisms are poorly co-ordinated, leading to high rates of homelessness among people leaving prison or out-of-home care.
• Renew the ACT Housing Strategy, which ACTCOSS and ACT Shelter say has not achieved its objectives of creating an adequate housing supply and of reducing homelessness.
• Recognise housing as a human right.

“This election, our community stands at a crossroads,” Dr Bowles said. “They can continue with the failing status quo, or they can invest in transformative change into our housing system. … Voters may well question the seriousness of any political party or candidate that does not have an ambitious and clear plan to address housing and homelessness – the biggest policy challenge facing an incoming government.”

ACTCOSS and ACT Shelter acknowledge that meeting the scale of the social housing crisis would need a “significant upfront investment”, but argue that “the cost of inaction is enormous”. On the other hand, Mr Gilbert said, social housing was an economic, health, and social infrastructure investment: according to KPMG, every dollar of public investment generated $2.30 of economic activity elsewhere, and reduced future costs borne by health, justice and community safety, and other public systems by $2.

“Secure housing is an enabler of better life outcomes benefitting recipients and government,” Mr Gilbert said. “Educational attainment leads to higher employment income, bosting tax revenue long term. We encourage all parties and candidates to have a sophisticated approach to this issue, and to reframe the housing narrative – from cost to investment and insurance.”

Politicians respond

ACT Greens housing spokesperson Rebecca Vassarotti MLA said she welcomed the joint housing and homelessness platform; ACTCOSS and ACT Shelter played a crucial role in advocating for a better housing system in Canberra.

“The ACT Greens are really pleased to see that our platform aligns closely with the priorities outlined by ACTCOSS and ACT Shelter. Our commitment to building and buying 10,000 public homes over the next decade reflects the urgent need for affordable solutions to the housing crisis. This ambitious plan aims to not only address the current public housing waiting list but also provide affordable options for people currently struggling at the lower end of the rental market.

“Earlier this year, the ACT Greens also announced we will dramatically improve the quality of public housing by insourcing maintenance services. Just recently, we have also proposed establishing a rental commissioner and better rental caps to champion and protect renters’ rights in Canberra.

“It’s encouraging to see our goals aligned with the community sector’s efforts. In the coming months, we will unveil further details of our plans for housing, homelessness, and community housing, and we are confident they will continue to align with the objectives of this platform.”

Many independent candidates have already expressed their support for the policy.

The Strong Independents want 3,000 more public housing dwellings within four years to meet the demand.

“We’d like to see it a little sooner, but let’s be realistic,” Peter Strong AM said. “It is such a need. We’re talking about the victims of domestic violence who have nowhere to go. Now, that is a huge failure of a government, just that by itself. When we’ve been out on the hustle, we’ve spoken to people who have come up and said, ‘I’m sleeping on the floor in my friend’s house’ because there’s nowhere to go and nowhere that they can afford. So it’s an issue that has to be fixed. We are a jurisdiction full of good people who earn good money who can fix it – except we’ve got a government that doesn’t give a damn…”

Fiona Carrick, Independent candidate for Murrumbidgee, said she would support an ambitious social housing agenda, including more social housing across Canberra; better management of maintenance to reduce the number of empty houses; more priority housing for people in high need, including women and children fleeing domestic violence; more accessible, supportive housing for people with disabilities and complex needs; planning for Aboriginal Community-Controlled Housing;  and planning for subsidised sites for public and non-profit community housing providers providing long-term social housing. She would also call for an evidence-based review of ACT Government housing and land sales/tax policies to underpin future policy settings, and seek transparency around the progress of delivering housing stock.

Thomas Emerson, Independents for Canberra leader and candidate for Kurrajong, said: “This Labor-Greens government talks a lot about being progressive but isn’t taking urgent progressive action to match their talking points. ‘Progressive, practical, proven’ – tell that to the 870 children who are homeless in the ACT, and to the women trying to escape violence who are being told to wait it out because we don’t have a home for them. We need change for the sake of the Canberrans facing disadvantage who are being ignored by our government.”