The waiting list for ACT public housing has ballooned by more than 1000 households over the past five years, with more than 3000 now in line for a home and facing significantly longer wait times.
The territory government is being urged to be more transparent about the number of public housing properties.
Opposition housing spokesman Mark Parton will on Wednesday use a Legislative Assembly motion to call on the government to commit to releasing six-monthly public housing snapshots.
The number of public housing properties has plummeted in the ACT over the past five years. The territory had 11,081 properties in March 2018 but this was down to 10,715 in March this year.
During the same period, the waiting list for public housing has more than doubled. There were 1730 people on the wait list in March 2018 and there were 3145 people on the waiting list in March 2023.
The average wait time for a public housing property is 1845 days, which is just over five years. This has increased drastically over an eight-year period. The average wait time was 808 days, just over two years, in March 2015.
The government had promised to add an extra 400 public housing properties by 2025 in the Labor and Greens power-sharing agreement but this was pushed back to be completed by the 2026-27 financial year.
This agreement also included a commitment to add an extra 600 social, affordable or community housing properties.
The total number of social housing properties, which includes public housing stock, is 11,532 but even this is down over the past five years. In March 2018 there were 11,796 social housing properties.
Mr Parton said the government was hiding where it was at with meeting its public housing targets.
"There is no excuse for why the Minister cannot provide a snapshot every six months that clearly shows the amount of public housing stock, how much is being built, knocked down and how many additional properties have been purchased," he said.
"Currently, sifting through the documents and annual reports and the budget it is very opaque and impossible to know exactly where we are at with public housing stock, and I think the reason for that is because they are clearly not going to meet their targets."
The government is expected to agree to provide a six-monthly snapshot of public housing properties in the territory.
Greens housing spokesman Johnathan Davis said his party had made it clear to Labor that they were prepared to support Mr Parton's motion.
"I can't speak to the parliamentary tactics of the Labor caucus but what I can say is we Greens made it abundantly clear to Labor that this was a reasonable motion that we were prepared to accept," Mr Davis said.
Mr Davis has been highly critical of the government's growth and renewal program, saying the government needed to consider buying dwellings on the private market to boost the stock of public housing.
He said he welcomed the fact that the three parties wanted to see more public housing in the territory.
"I think that it's good reflection on the Assembly, that the contest is now who wants more public housing," Mr Davis said.
