A $50 million funding boost for the Suburban Land Agency to accelerate the development of land is the exact amount the agency spent over their revenue last year.
The ACT government has denied the funding was to make up for the overspend, saying the two were completely unrelated.
This hasn't stopped the opposition from raising concerns about the funding, which Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said had no tangible targets or outcomes.
The Suburban Land Agency spent more than their revenue in the 2022-23 year despite not meeting land release targets.
The agency received $50 million in the ACT mid-year budget review, released last month.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the agency was receiving the one-off boost to provide more housing. The agency was tasked with developing a program to deliver extra housing supply, which will be revealed in the June budget.
But the $50 million given to the Suburban Land Agency was exactly the same amount the agency had exceeded their revenue by in 2022-23. The government has said this was purely coincidental and work on the policy begun before this shortfall was revealed.
The agency's annual report showed it received nearly $260 million in receipts from land sales, contracts with customers, taxes and grants but the agency spent more than $309 million over the year.
This included $129 million on development costs, $20 million on staff, $22 million on supplies and services and $10 million on land acquisitions.
While the agency spent more than it made last year it still fell short in providing land.
The agency was supposed to release 3918 dwellings last year but only 2473 were sent to market. The agency attributed the delays to releasing land in Holt, Macnamara, Kingston, Gungahlin and Oaks Estate.
The reasons given for the delays were issues with environmental clearance, planning constraints and the need for further assessments.
The original budget for the agency included an expected $354 million in revenue from contracts with customers but only $191 million was received.
While the agency had higher expenses than revenue over the year, it still finished the year with $108 million in its cash reserves.
An ACT government spokeswoman said the money was provided as part of changes to the agency's capital structure to allow it to more flexibly respond to market conditions, while maintaining prudent liquidity requirements.
"The $50 million equity injection will support the SLA in delivering on the government's commitment to accelerate land supply," the spokeswoman said.
"These changes were made to better support the important role of the SLA in land development and release - that is distinct from private developers - being that the SLA delivers to the indicative land release irrespective of market conditions."
But Ms Lee said there was no clear explanation as to how the $50 million would be spent to accelerate land release.
"This so-called $50 million announcement appears to be nothing more than Andrew Barr trying to cover up the SLA cashflow shortfall of just over $50 million," she said.
"The audited financial statements for the SLA clearly show a cash flow shortage of slightly over $50 million. And yet, in making this announcement, Andrew Barr has tried to spin as a boost to accelerate land release.
"It is now clear why there are no clear outcomes or targets attached to this money because it will not provide any real boost to land supply. It is there to make up the shortfall in the SLA budget."
