A collection of local tradespeople and businesses have offered to fix up ACT public housing homes for free as the number of vacant properties grows and wait times blow out.
Community concerns about the growing numbers of people experiencing homelessness in the ACT and an extensive public housing waitlist have sparked a private-sector push to make 20 public housing homes habitable by Christmas.
More than 588 Housing ACT properties were vacant in early August 2026, according to public service officials, of which 285 were awaiting maintenance or repairs.
Canberra real estate agent Jonny Warren and mental health advocate Adam Mumford have called on the ACT government to identify and approve 20 suitable vacant properties for renovation by a collection of tradespeople and businesses.
Mr Warren, who experienced homelessness as a young man, said he recently met a young woman sleeping in a car with her four-year-old.
"We just go, enough is enough, we're going to put some things in place to try and get some people off the streets," he said.
The real estate agent said he was meeting with Housing ACT on Tuesday to discuss options.
In June 2026, 3652 approved applicants were on the waitlist for ACT public housing. The average wait time for standard housing was 1875 days, or more than five years, with those on the priority list waiting on average 162 days for a property.
Housing All Australians ACT chair Jo Farrell said the project had fielded a lot of interest from tradespeople and construction companies.
"It will be an expensive undertaking, but we also understand that there's a purpose behind it and there's a need, so we'll just get in and get it done," she said.
"It's not going to be running down to Bunnings and buying 20 litres of paint. There's going to be a significant amount of work and there's going to be multiple trades involved, depending on what needs to be done."
Independent Thomas Emerson said the government was "obviously struggling on its own" to meet demand for public housing and property upkeep.
In early 2026, the ACT Ombudsman blasted Housing ACT for leaving tenants in "hazardous situations" and its repairs and maintenance contractor Programmed for failing to adequately communicate with clients.
Mr Emerson said Labor members had indicated they were looking into the feasibility of accepting pro bono work from the project.
"In the first half of this year, our public housing waitlist has grown by more than 150 approved applicants, while the number of vacancies has grown by more than 50. Make that make sense," he said.
"We haven't invested enough in public housing in the ACT for decades, our public housing stock here is in the second-worst condition in the country.
"I've written to the housing minister this morning calling for her to direct officials to be a part of the solution here and to work collaboratively with Jonny, Jo and the whole team to make this happen as soon as possible."
In 2025, The Canberra Times spoke to public housing residents, community law firms, housing advocates and the ACT social services council who voiced concerns the lack of maintenance and repairs in public housing management had become systemic.
The ACT government has announced it would conclude Programmed's contract and move all repairs and maintenance in-house in 2027.
