Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness Mark Parton is calling on the Labor-Greens Government to acknowledge that the ACT is suffering through a housing crisis and to conduct an independent review on the impact of ACT Government policy on housing prices and rent levels.

Mr Parton, who will put forward a motion in the Legislative Assembly today said he was shocked to hear that almost 7,500 people entered the ballot for only 115 blocks in Taylor, with less than 20 of those zoned for a single dwelling.

“We are clearly in the grip of a housing crisis of the ACT Labor-Greens Government’s own making, and we cannot go on like this,” Mr Parton said.

“The number of stand-alone houses on sale for less than a million dollars in the ACT is rapidly shrinking. This is denying a whole generation of Canberrans the aspiration of ever owning their own home.

“We don’t become the most expensive place to buy and rent overnight – it’s the product of 20 years of a Labor-Greens Government.”

Mr Parton said If the Labor-Greens Government doesn’t act soon, a generation of Canberans will have their dreams of owning a home crushed; not to mention those struggling to afford Canberra’s sky-rocketing rents.

“The Labor-Greens Government continually puts the blame elsewhere, while turning a blind eye to the controls and levers it has over land supply and land prices; not to mention the raft of rates, taxes and charges that impacts directly on high rental prices in the territory.

“It’s time that this government looks at the impact their policies are having on the rising cost of housing in the ACT,” Mr Parton concluded.

CoreLogic’s October Quarterly Rental Review revealed once again the ACT has the highest rental costs in Australia.