Solutions to the Capital's housing problem

New research demonstrates that in the ACT investment in social and affordable housing is an effective way of improving people’s lives, whilst lowering the cost to government.

Join us as ACT Shelter and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)* present the research in the ACT that provides ground-breaking evidence for a business case for increasing investment in social housing.

What you will hear at the launch? AHURI researchers, Jim Davison, Dr Nicola Brackertz and Dr Tom Alves, will present online from Melbourne to share the evidence and findings of the reports. This will be followed by a Q&A discussion.

Digital copies of the report will be sent to attendees before the event. Hard copies will be available to those who attend in person or on request.

Key points from the two research reports are:

Evidence Review and Scoping Report on the costs and benefits of providing more social and affordable housing in the ACT

• Quantifies unmet need for social and affordable housing, known supply commitments (Growing & Renewing Public Housing and the aspirational affordable housing target in the Parliamentary Agreement

• Outlines the social and economic benefits of social and affordable housing• Compares five investment pathways for financing social and affordable homes and determined that capital investment in housing as infrastructure was most cost-effective, and

• Develops two methodologies for the Territory level cost-benefit analysis and recommended combining administrative data (provided by the ACT to the feds) and survey data (a homelessness control group and a housed control group) was the most feasible.

A Business Case for Infrastructure Investment

• Provides estimates of the annual recurrent cost of providing public and community housing in the ACT

• Estimates the cost of developing social and affordable housing by community housing providers and the quantum of capital and equivalent incentives needed from government to close the funding gap

• Investigates the impact of crisis and transitional responses to homelessness and provided insights into the frequency and nature of service interactions based on survey data from people experiencing homelessness in Canberra in 2020

• Measures the economic and social benefit to the ACT and Australian Governments of ending homelessness by providing social and affordable homes for people, and

• Establishes a basis for a business case for budget treatment of social and affordable housing as infrastructure investment that delivers both economic and social return.

Please note: We currently plan to hold this event in person with an option to attend through a live stream online. If restrictions due to COVID impact on us gathering in person, we intend to hold the event completely online.

*ACT Shelter acknowledges the following contributing project partners:

ACTCOSS, Anglicare, Argyle Housing, CatholicCare Canberra Goulburn, Community Housing Canberra, Havelock Housing, St Vincent de Paul, Women's Centre for Health Matters, Woden Community Service, Women's Centre for Health Matters, Youth Coalition of the ACT, YWCA Canberra.