The ACT Legislative Assembly has voted to support a community-led ‘20 Homes By Christmas' proposal.
Yesterday, independent Member for Kurrajong Thomas Emerson MLA secured Assembly support for his motion which called for the ACT Government to back the initiative. Championed by Canberra local Jonny Warren, the initiative seeks to renovate 20 of Canberra’s vacant public housing properties and get tenants into them before Christmas, with labour and supplies provided pro-bono by industry.
Mr Emerson said the passage of the motion was a positive step that could transform the lives of many vulnerable Canberrans.
“Canberrans from all walks of life have put their hands up to help,” Mr Emerson said.
“We’ve had carpenters, electricians, plumbers, suppliers, housing experts, and even lawyers reach out to get involved. Our community wants to be part of the solution because they can see the Government’s struggling to manage its public housing problems on its own.
“It’s bizarre that I had to bring this to the Assembly to get the ACT Government to accept the free help on offer and commit to providing 20 suitable properties for Jonny and his team to get to work, but I’m pleased that they’ve finally come to the table.”
The Government will be required to evaluate and report back on the success of the initiative by the end of May 2027.
The motion also called on the ACT Government to set a more ambitious public housing occupancy target of 98 per cent, and to establish a new accountability indicator for the average vacancy time for public housing properties requiring maintenance or repairs of 90 days or less.
In 2025-26, Housing ACT achieved an occupancy rate of 95 per cent. Questions asked by Mr Emerson during Budget Estimates revealed that the 285 vacant public housing properties currently awaiting maintenance or repairs to be made tenantable had been vacant, on average, for 284 days.
In the first half of 2026, the ACT’s public housing waitlist grew by more than 150 households — to 3,652 — while the number of vacant public housing properties grew by more than 50 — to 588.
Mr Emerson said he is now focused on ensuring that the ACT Government, and its housing maintenance manager Programmed Facilities Management, work in good faith with Mr Warren and his team of volunteers to identify and provide 20 suitable properties, so they can be renovated and become homes for vulnerable Canberrans before Christmas.
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BACKGROUND:
The motion passed unanimously with minor amendments. You can find the final version of the motion here.