ACT Shelter has a long and proud history of advocating for housing justice in the ACT. For 50 years, we have championed the housing rights of Canberrans on low to moderate incomes.
In February 1975, the first meeting of the ACT branch of Shelter took place at University House, ANU. This meeting comprised an array of housing activists, tenants groups, students, and representatives from trade unions, charitable organisations, government departments, and the National Capital Development Commission. The establishment of ACT Shelter followed on from the formation of the first Shelter organisation in Sydney in 1974 and its visits to public housing and co-operatives in Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Over the subsequent two decades, a small group of dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly, seeking to improve social housing and raising housing issues for low to moderate income earners with the Government. They campaigned on issues relating to poverty, discrimination, squalid housing conditions, and a lack of housing options for people on the lowest incomes. A Shelter representative was invited to sit on the ACT Government’s Housing Advisory Committee, but without funding, there were limitations on how far we could effectively represent the housing needs of people on low to medium incomes.
It wasn’t until April 1996 that ACT Shelter was incorporated under the ACT Associations Incorporation Act. 
ACTCOSS at this time were funded by the ACT Government to employ a housing support worker but most other states and territories had funded independent Housing Peak bodies which were networked under the umbrella of the federally-funded National Shelter. So, in 1996, the ACT Government agreed to fund a newly incorporated ACT Shelter for $50,000 per annum. We have gratefully received funding support from the ACT Government since that time.
ACT Shelter is as important now as ever. We are an independent voice on housing issues, and the realisation of the Right to Adequate Housing for all Canberrans underpins everything we do. For five decades, we have worked with the community and government to advocate for housing justice. While much has changed over that time, our commitment to achieving housing security for all people in the ACT remains unwavering.