Chief Minister Andrew Barr will ramp up pressure on the federal government to waive the ACT's historic housing debt when he meets with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Friday.
Mr Barr will use the gathering of state and territory treasurers in Canberra to again push his case for the Commonwealth to forgive the territory's $115 million social housing debt.
It comes after he told a homelessness forum on Thursday that erasing historic housing debts would be "simplest, quickest and most effective way" of boosting investment in social housing stock across the country.
Mr Barr has been arguing the case since the federal government agreed to waive Tasmania's $157 million state housing debt in early September.
The deal was brokered after Tasmanian crossbench senator Jacqui Lambie agreed to support the Coalition's personal income tax package.
Mr Barr last month wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison about waiving the territory's own debt, which dates back to the start of self-government.
He also lobbied federal assistant minister Michael Sukkar at a meeting on September 19.
Moments after that meeting, Mr Barr told reporters that it would be a "perversion of Australian democracy" if the Commonwealth did not agree to a Tasmania-type deal with other jurisdictions.
"If you need a crossbench senator from your state in order to get an outcome on a public policy basis then we have a real problem," Mr Barr said.
"It is entirely untenable for the Commonwealth to do one special deal with Tasmania and leave the rest of the country out. That just won't stand politically."
The ACT government will this year receive about $27 million in federal funding to tackle housing and homelessness.
But it will have to send about half of that amount - $13.4 million - back to the Commonwealth to service the historic housing debt.
Speaking at a Lord Mayor's homelessness forum on Thursday, Mr Barr said the federal money would be far better spent on social housing.
"If we are looking for a resource and an instant fiscal boost to address the supply side [of social housing], that same arrangement that was struck with Tasmania needs to be struck with every other state and territory," Mr Barr said.
"It would be the simplest, quickest and most effective way for the states and territories to be resourced to address supply-side challenges and that is clearly part of the overall policy solution [to addressing homelessness]."
