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After a much delayed announcement, funding for the initial pipeline of projects in the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) has been greenlit.
Housing Australia has selected an initial pipeline of 185 projects that will create 13,700 social and affordable homes across the country through the first funding round of the federal government's HAFF and National Housing Accord Facility (NHAF).
Speaking on the approval, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that he “grew up in social housing” and knows “how important a roof over your head is and the opportunities it creates”.
“The first round of funding under our Housing Australia Future Fund will deliver thousands of social and affordable homes across Australia for those who need it most.”
These preferred projects will deliver over 4,200 social and affordable homes across every state and territory, and will include 1,300 homes for “women and children escaping domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness”.
Notably, the projects within funding round one will also support investment of up to $9.2 billion in social and affordable housing.
Beyond the initial round, the greater pipeline is also expected to deliver “more than one-third of the program’s five-year target of 40,000 social and affordable homes”, with applications for round two opening in the next six months.
Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Clare O’Neil, said that with this announcement, the government was making good on its promise to build “homes for renters, homes for first home buyers, and homes for women and children escaping domestic violence and those at risk from homelessness, because more homes means more affordable housing for everyone”.
“We want to reduce the stress of housing for Australians – the long waits on housing lists, the long queues for rentals, the out-of-reach deposit for first home buyers – we’ll reduce these issues if we build more houses, and that’s what these projects do.”
This sentiment was echoed by the Property Council of Australia who described the announcement as marking “an important milestone in the delivery of much-needed social and affordable housing”.
“A wealthy, land-rich nation should not have a housing deficit and the only way to close that gap is to build more homes. Today’s announcement is great news for housing supply in general,” said Property Council’s group executive of policy and advocacy, Matthew Kandelaars.
With funding for the first round of applications originally set to be announced in July 2024, the CEO of the Urban Taskforce Australia, Tom Forrest previously flagged concern over delays in the program, noting that uncertainty around funding “put the success of the scheme in jeopardy”.
Responding to today’s announcement, the CEO welcomed the eventual announcement and described the investment as “the biggest government investment in social and affordable housing in decades”.
While the Urban Taskforce is in support of HAFF, Forrest also emphasised the need for action at the state level to ensure that the funding is “not just cannibalising housing that otherwise would have been directed towards market price sales”.
“The HAFF effectively covers the gap between market rent and affordable housing rent for 25 years, but it does not, in and of its own, contribute significantly to housing stock more generally,” said Forrest.
“If governments focus their efforts exclusively on delivering ‘affordable housing and social housing’ while ignoring the planning, taxation, feasibility and administrative barriers that face housing supply more generally, they will fail in their quest to increase supply and make housing generally more affordable,” he said.
