The Albanese Labor Government’s landmark legislation to deliver the single biggest investment in affordable and social housing in more than a decade has passed the Parliament.
The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund will now be established, creating a secure, ongoing pipeline of funding for social and affordable rental housing.
This will be life changing legislation that will help generations of Australians.
The passage of this legislation delivers on the commitment the Albanese Government made to the Australian people before the election.
The Housing Australia Future Fund will help deliver the Government’s commitment of 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes in the fund’s first five years.
This includes 4,000 homes for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness.
The Fund will also deliver the Government’s commitments to help address acute housing needs, including:
- $200 million for the repair, maintenance and improvement of housing in remote Indigenous communities
- $100 million for crisis and transitional housing for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessnes
- And $30 million to build housing for veterans who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness
The package of housing legislation passed by the Parliament this week also includes the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council Bill 2023,which will establish the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council as an independent statutory advisory body.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Measures No. 1) Bill 2023 changes the name of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to Housing Australia and streamlines its functions.
The Housing Australia Future Fund is one part of the Albanese Government’s ambitious housing reform agenda, which also includes:
- A new national target to build 1.2 million well-located homes
- A $3 billion New Homes Bonus, and $500 million Housing Support Program
- A $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator to deliver thousands of new social homes across Australia
- A National Housing Accord which includes federal funding to deliver 10,000 affordable homes over five years from 2024 (to be matched by up to another 10,000 by the states and territories)
- An investment of an additional $1 billion in the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to support more homes
- Up to $575 million in funding already unlocked from the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, with homes under construction across the country
- Increasing the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 15 per cent, the largest increase in more than 30 years
- An additional $2 billion in financing for more social and affordable rental housing through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation
- New incentives to boost the supply of rental housing by changing arrangements for investments in Build-to-Rent accommodation
- A $1.7 billion one year extension of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement with states and territories, including a $67.5 million boost to homelessness funding over the next year
- The development of a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan
- States and territories committing to A Better Deal for Renters
- States and territories supporting the national roll out of the Help to Buy program, which will reduce the cost of buying a home
- Helping more than 67,000 people into home ownership through the Home Guarantee Scheme since being elected, and recently expanding program eligibility