7.5-star complex unveiled: Public housing build on the up after delays ease, says Berry

The ACT Government has taken flak for years over the slow rate of building new public housing, but Housing Minister Yvette Berry says the rollout is now ramping up.

Speaking in Strathnairn at the latest project completion announcement, Ms Berry said construction times have halved to nine months and supply shortages have eased, although labour is still hard to source.

She said this meant that every week more homes would be completed and more people on the 3200-strong waiting list were moving into new properties.

Housing ACT was also looking at innovative building approaches such as pre-fabrication and modular housing to speed up the delivery further and reduce construction costs.

Ms Berry said there were still only a few companies using these methods, but once economies of scale could be achieved, they could make a big difference.

The number of public housing dwellings is actually fewer than a decade ago, but Ms Berry said the government was also accelerating land releasing for housing generally and partnering more with community housing providers to increase the overall supply of affordable rental homes and provide more options for those on the waiting list.

“We also have a Federal Government that’s been willing to partner with us and provide funding to community housing providers to provide more opportunities for affordable rentals, as well as for state and territory governments to build more public housing,” she said.

“We’ve got a lot of opportunities now where we can start enhancing the pipeline that we’ve already developed.”

The new projects do not come cheaply, though. The new 7.5-star energy-efficient and fully accessible apartment and townhouse project at Strathnairn was a $10 million build.

Ms Berry acknowledged that there was a limit to how much public housing the Territory could build on its own and alluded to pledges being made by the Greens to build 10,000 homes over a decade.

She said the government was being realistic about the number of homes it could deliver, including by partnering with the Commonwealth and community housing providers.

“We know some of the challenges that we’ll be facing, ” she said.

“What we’re doing is being realistic about what we can achieve, not imagining up public housing across the ACT, which we know we can’t deliver.

“That’s why this sort of sensible, practical approach to building public housing, renewing our existing stock, also partnering up with private investors and community housing providers – those are the ways that we’ll be able to improve and build more homes in the ACT.”

The fully-electric Strathnairn project consists of 17 homes – 12 two-bedroom apartments over two storeys and four three-bedroom and one two-bedroom single-level townhouses.

They earn 7.5 stars by being north-facing, fully insulated and and having double glazing and insulation. Rooftop solar on the western end of the apartment building will provide power to the entire complex.

Ms Berry said the energy efficiency measures would reduce heating and cooling bills by about 30 per cent, and the rooftop PV system would also make a big difference to energy costs.

She said it was more expensive to build to that standard but technology was becoming more affordable and the upfront cost was worth the comfort for tenants and the savings down the line.

“These are the kinds of things we want to consider when we’re building public housing properties, that they last not just for today but well into the future.”

The Class C adaptable homes can be easily changed to accommodate people with a disability or older people by installing grab rails and making modifications to the kitchen and bathroom.

The apartment building has a lift, and corridors and hallways are wide enough to fit a wheelchair.

The project is near a bus stop, but the apartments have a basement car park and individual storage lockers, and the townhouses have their own internal garage.

ACT firm Projex Building built the Strathnairn project.

Housing ACT aims to deliver 1400 new public housing homes in the Territory by 2027 through new builds and redevelopment of older stock.

An Auditor-General’s report in May found the program won’t deliver more homes in real terms and could restrict supply in the future.

The audit examined the management of the program and found that while it will result in a net increase of 400 public housing homes by 2027 (compared to 2019), in real terms, available housing stock will not grow.

There are currently about 26 public housing homes per 1000 people in the ACT. If the program reaches its targets, there will be about 24 homes per 1000 people. That’s down from about 28 public housing homes per 1000 people in 2018.

It also found that the program’s reliance on the sale or redevelopment of older homes will limit future larger-scale growth or redevelopment of low- and medium-density public housing options.