CANBERRA remains the most expensive Australian city for people on low incomes to rent, as well as an increasing shortfall in social housing supply, according to the Productivity Commission’s latest Report on Government Services.

“It is alarming and unacceptable that thousands of ACT residents are experiencing severe financial and emotional stress due to the ACT Government’s lack of responsive action on housing availability and affordability,” says ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) interim CEO Dr Gemma Killen said.

“Despite increased funding from the ACT Government, the number of people on the waiting list for public housing continues to grow and our housing crisis continues to worsen. More than 3100 people are now waiting for a public housing home with an average wait time of almost five years for standard housing.”

The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services (RoGS) highlighted:

• Priority public housing applicants are waiting an average of 337 days for a home
• The average wait time for standard public housing has blown out to almost five years
• The ACT remains the jurisdiction with the highest rate of lower-income private renters experiencing rental stress (over 60% compared with 52% nationally)
• There is currently the lowest number of public housing dwellings in the ACT in 10 years after a peak in 2018
• The average turnaround time for vacant stock in public housing has nearly doubled over the last year from 50 to 90 days
• In comparison to the rest of the nation, the ACT has the lowest rate of public housing dwellings that are weather appropriate and meet energy efficiency expectations
• The ACT remains the most expensive Australian city for people on low incomes to rent a house or a unit. Anglicare’s 2022 Rental Affordability Snapshot showed that no private rental property in the ACT was affordable for single people on Jobseeker or the Disability Support Pension. Less than 3% of private rentals were suitable for a household living on minimum wage without placing them in housing stress.
• Dr Killen continued: “Housing is the biggest cost of living pressure for low-income households in the ACT, with higher rates of rental stress than other Australian jurisdictions. If the ACT Government does not address this crisis urgently, we will end up with more families forced into overcrowded homes or homelessness. ACT homelessness services are reporting the highest rates of persistent homelessness for their clients in the nation with 43% of service users experiencing homeless for at least 7 months over the last two years.

“This number is even higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with 47% of service users experiencing persistent homelessness. The ACT urgently requires support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander controlled community housing providers to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at risk of or experiencing homelessness,” Dr Killen said.

The Report on Government Services data demonstrated that the ACT government’s housing and homelessness policies were failing to meet the housing needs of Canberrans on low-incomes – including many in full-time work, she said.

While ACTCOSS welcomed government funding for homelessness services, it needed to remain high and services still required the security of longer-term funding to deliver sustainable assistance to those who need crisis accommodation and support.

“There is an ongoing shortfall in social housing dwellings in the ACT, meaning there will be a long wait yet for many of the 3162 applicants who are currently on the social housing waitlist,” Dr Killen said.

“ACTCOSS continues to call for action from the Australian government to raise the rate of income support to at least $73 a day and double the rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA).”