The ACT Government has claimed that it has just finished building its 12,000th public housing home, but official figures show that Housing ACT only directly manages 11,208 public housing dwellings.

Then-housing minister Yvette Berry MLA announced on Facebook earlier this month that “public housing in the ACT has reached a huge milestone”, following the completion of a three-bedroom home in Canberra’s north.

“This is an important step towards ACT Labor’s commitment to grow the public housing portfolio to 13,200 homes by 2030,” Ms Berry said.

However, ACT Shelter questioned the claim, saying the government was misreporting the size of the public housing portfolio.

“We certainly welcome every new public housing home that is delivered – but we’re also frustrated by the inconsistent and misleading way the ACT Government is reporting the size of the public housing portfolio,” CEO Corinne Dobson said.

Ms Dobson said that the ACT Government’s figures did not align with data published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare or the Productivity Commission, nor with the government’s annual reports, which all recorded 11,097 public housing dwellings as at 30 June 2025.

If the government had delivered around 900 additional public housing dwellings in one year, she said, it would “represent an unprecedented increase”.

The government did not dispute the figure.

It confirmed that, as at 1 July, Housing ACT owned 12,018 properties. Of these, 11,208 were public housing tenancies managed directly by Housing ACT and reported as public housing to the AIHW and Productivity Commission.

The remaining 810 properties were owned by Housing ACT, but leased to community housing providers, and were therefore not counted as public housing in national reporting.

They are used for social and affordable housing and specialist accommodation, including crisis and transitional housing, homes for people escaping domestic and family violence, accommodation for people leaving the justice system, and housing for people with complex needs.

The government said the 810 properties supported more than 1,100 tenancies, because some properties contain multiple units. One inner-north property, for instance, contains more 103 units, but is only counted as one property in the Housing ACT portfolio.

Ms Dobson said the discrepancy appeared to arise because the government sometimes used “public housing” to describe the broader Housing ACT-owned portfolio, rather than public housing tenancies alone.

She urged the government to report public housing, community housing, and other Housing ACT-owned dwellings separately, using definitions consistent with national reporting.

“Every new public housing home is something to celebrate because it means another household has the security of a place to call home,” Ms Dobson said.

“But it’s equally important the Government reports progress using clear, consistent and transparent measures. The ACT needs a much larger public housing system than it has today, and the community should be able to clearly understand how much the portfolio is growing and hold the government to account against its commitments.”

Between 30 June 2025 and 30 June this year, Housing ACT constructed 128 properties and acquired 49. Six properties were demolished and 26 were sold.

The number of public housing dwellings that Housing ACT managed directly increased by 111, from 11,097 to 11,208.

In addition to the Housing ACT-owned portfolio, the government said there were 1,207 community housing rentals. These included homes owned by community housing providers; affordable rentals supported through the Affordable Community Housing Land Tax Exemption Scheme; and 70 properties managed through Housing ACT for aged pensioners.

Public, community and affordable rentals together accounted for 6.4 per cent of the ACT’s residential stock, which increased from 198,000 dwellings in June 2024 to 205,800 in March 2025.

The government said the proportion would grow through construction programs, including a community housing pipeline of more than 2,000 affordable rental dwellings, around 800 of them supported by the government’s $100 million Affordable Housing Project Fund.

Housing ACT has another 364 properties in design or construction, while the 2026-27 ACT Budget committed $360 million to build or buy a further 450 properties.

Ms Dobson said that the government was not delivering additional public housing at a pace that would increase its share of all homes in the ACT.

“Reversing that long-term decline is essential if we are to meet growing community need, reduce homelessness, and tackle housing inequality,” Ms Dobson said.