Budget investment will help ensure more vulnerable Canberrans can access secure, well-maintained homes.
05 June 2026
In brief:
- Budget funding will deliver more social, public, community and affordable housing.
- It will fund new builds, upgrade existing public housing, and speed up delivery through new and purchased properties.
- It will also support crisis housing and community organisations to help vulnerable Canberrans.
The 2026–27 ACT Budget will invest in more social, public, community and affordable homes for Canberrans.
A range of Budget measures will help provide safe and affordable homes for some of the most vulnerable members of the community.
It will also include more funding for the maintenance of existing public housing properties.
The Public Housing Pipeline program
The ACT Government will begin a new Public Housing Pipeline program. Through this, it will build and buy an extra 450 new public homes.
The program is supported by the Territory Priority Projects legislation. This is designed to streamline planning for significant projects that benefit the community. It will allow Canberrans to move into these homes sooner.
The Government will use a hybrid delivery model combining:
- new builds on greenfield land
- redevelopment of existing sites
- market acquisitions.
Using this model will speed up delivery of new homes and respond to market conditions.
More than half of these new homes will be supported through the Commonwealth Government’s Housing Australia Future Fund Facility Round 3 (HAFFF3).
Community housing providers will manage and operate these Government-owned HAFFF 3 dwellings over 25 years.
The community housing sector will also benefit from a new loan guarantee program, through the Housing Australia Future Fund.
This will help progress projects for more than 1,000 affordable homes.
Support for existing public housing
Additional investment over four years will support the ACT’s existing public housing portfolio.
This major funding increase will strengthen public housing repairs and maintenance. It supports a balanced approach across:
- reactive repairs
- planned upgrades
- bringing vacant properties back into use.
The Budget also supports the progressive insourcing of key components of public housing repairs and maintenance services.
Support for new crisis and transitional housing
Budget investment will bring new crisis and transitional housing into operation, for vulnerable Canberrans facing homelessness.
This will be through indexed funding over 20 years, in partnership with the Commonwealth Government.
Support for Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations
The 2026–27 ACT Budget will also include funding for Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations.
This funding will help deliver social and affordable housing. Support will be provided for applications through the First Nations stream of the Housing Australia Future Fund.
By boosting supply and investing in the upkeep of existing dwellings, the Budget will help ensure more vulnerable Canberrans can access secure, well-maintained homes.
Commitment to public housing growth
The ACT Government is committed to increasing the Territory’s public housing portfolio to 13,200 homes by the end of 2030.
This is in addition to its commitment to deliver 5,000 more public, community and affordable rental dwellings by the end of 2030.
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