Federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said he had not ruled in or ruled out cancelling Tasmania's $157 million housing debt to the Commonwealth.
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Mr Sukkar met with Tasmania's Housing Minister Roger Jaensch to discuss the debt on Thursday morning.
"Nothing is on or off the table in that respect," Mr Sukkar said.
"There are broader national and budgetary implications for a decision like this. It normally occurs as part of a budget process."
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Mr Jaensch said Mr Sukkar did not declare he would waive the debt but the door has been left open for further discussion in coming weeks.
"I will be taking a proposal, which I will work on with my colleagues, back to Canberra to take to Minister Sukkar about the next steps forward, both with our debt and how it plays out in the future and also shorter term initiatives," Mr Jaensch said.
Mr Jaensch said the annual savings made by cancelling the $15 million a year debt repayments would deliver an extra 50 houses a year.
"This debt is an issue for us. It is restricting our ability to respond to the need that we've got," he said.
Shelter Tasmania executive officer Pattie Chugg said the cancellation of the "unhealthy" debt would mean the state would have an extra $15 million a year to help people who were homeless.
"It's been a drain since the 1980s on our system. It will take us until 2042 to pay that off," Ms Chugg said.
"We need that debt gone and, if that debt can't be gone instantly, we need a trade off where extra funds can be provided to Tasmania."
Labor's housing spokeswoman Alison Standen said it was disappointing Mr Sukkar came to the table empty handed.
"There were significant expectations that the federal minister for housing would be coming along to the meeting to announce he would be relieving the historic housing debt," Ms Standen said.
"The debt places a significant burden that slows down the program for affordable housing in this state."
Mr Sukkar visited Tasmania on Thursday morning to attend Hobart City Council's Housing and Homelessness Forum which sought to find immediate solutions to address housing stress, particularly in greater Hobart.
After the event, Tasmanian Council of Social Service chief executive Kym Goodes welcomed the state government's release of an additional $5 million this week on top of the existing social housing budget.
"It won't be robbing Peter to pay Paul and we can make sure the build of housing stock stays on track," Ms Goodes said.
Mr Jaensch said the extra $5 million would be used to immediately respond to the housing crisis by building on the capacity of existing services.
"We need to act now because there are people in immediate need," Mr Jaensch said.
"What we are talking about is pre-fabricated accommodation units that can be moved into available space adjacent to existing shelters."
Hobart mayor Anna Reynolds said the forum was a fantastic collaboration between different sectors of government, the community and business.
"If we are going to tackle these issues we really do need an alliance," Cr Reynolds said.