Canberra Liberals MLA Peter Cain, Shadow Minister for Planning and Land Management, will call today on the ACT Government to urgently increase the ACT’s supply and diversity of housing.

Mr Cain wants the government to investigate new sites for the development of detached housing, and to set ambitious and realistic targets for land release.

“The Indicative Land Release Program for 2023-24 is set to release 1,883 total residential dwellings this financial year, while our population size is forecast to grow by 9,000 in the same period,” Mr Cain said.

“By the Planning Minister [Mick Gentleman]’s own estimate of 2.4 occupants per dwelling, that means the 1,883 new dwellings will only accommodate about 4,500, or half, of the ACT’s new residents.

“The single greatest cause fuelling the housing crisis in Canberra is a lack of supply.

“When we have our population increasing at double the rate that we are developing homes, people are going to miss out, and it will be the least advantaged community members most affected.

“The Chief Minister [Andrew Barr] and Planning Minister are treating the release of land as a means to raise revenue.”

Mr Cain will also call on the government to commission a new Housing Choices Community Survey to determine the most up-to-date dwelling preferences of ACT residents.

“The most recent survey from 2015 [the Winton Report] found that less than 2 per cent of Canberrans want to live in high density apartments,” Mr Cain said.

The same report also found that more than 80 per cent of Canberrans preferred to live in detached or semi-detached dwellings.

“Yet the government’s infill policy has seen the number of apartment dwellings in the ACT increase by 54 per cent since 2016, while the number of standalone houses increased by a meagre 4 per cent,” Mr Cain said.

“Not only are new developments not meeting population growth, but the government is restricting choice by failing to deliver on diverse housing options.

“These measures are desperately needed to relieve the housing crisis that is locking out large swathes of the population from ever being able to purchase a home.”