The ACT government should take stock of every public housing dwelling in the territory and repair any it finds that do not meet health and safety standards, the opposition says.
Liberal housing spokesman Mark Parton will on Wednesday move a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling on the government to assess its housing stock and commit to a repair and upgrade program.
"Public housing tenants say they feel helpless and are being ignored when they seek help on fixing the poor condition of their dwelling, and significant numbers of public housing tenants are reaching out to their local members for help on remediating critical health and safety issues," the motion will say.
Mr Parton said there needed to be an assessment of which government-owned properties did not meet habitation standards.
"This is about basic human rights, really, when it all boils down. I'm sure that I'll be surprised - but I would be astounded if anyone could stand in that chamber and say, 'Well, no, this is not a sensible motion'," Mr Parton said.
The motion will call on the Legislative Assembly to note the government's obligation to provide safe dwellings to public housing tenants.
"In 2019-20, Housing ACT reported it had received more than 1100 complaints related to maintenance and property condition issues, amounting to almost 42 per cent of all complaints," the motion will say.
"Significant numbers of public housing tenants are reaching out to their local members for help on remediating critical health and safety issues."
Mr Parton said there had been a dramatic increase in the number of ACT Housing tenants writing to his office to report maintenance issues in the last three months.
"Something isn't working the way it should, but try as I might, I cannot get sensible answers from the government as to why there is this shortfall of maintenance that seems to be occurring now," Mr Parton said.
"There's a lot of people in a lot of pain over this. That's not fair."
The ACT government in 2018 signed a contract with Programmed to maintain its public housing stock, after the auditor-general found previous contractor Spotless had failed to properly oversee its own, and its subcontractors', work.
There were 406 empty government-owned properties at the beginning of April, including 117 that had been marked for development or sale.
More than 220 were undergoing maintenance or repair work, and 65 were ready for allocation.
In June 30 last year, there were 11,704 social housing properties in the ACT, up by 122 from the year before.
Housing advocates remain concerned over the shortage of social housing in Canberra.
Housing Minister Yvette Berry hit back at the claims of a chronic shortage in February, saying the territory was more than meeting its targets compared to other jurisdictions.
"We're doing our bit and we are significantly pulling our weight in both social and public housing. We're working towards building more affordable housing," Ms Berry said.
