After months of negotiations, the Greens have confirmed their support for the federal government’s centrepiece housing policy, the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).
In exchange for the Greens’ support, the government committed a further $1 billion in public and community housing spending this year to be distributed through the National Housing Infrastructure Facility. This is on top of the $2 billion announced in June toward Social Housing Accelerator payments to state and territory governments to rapidly fund new social housing supply.
The passing of the bill, a key election commitment for Labor, will establish a $10 billion investment fund intended as a long-term response to address Australia’s shortage of affordable housing. From 2024, dividends from the HAFF – estimated at least $500 million a year – will deliver 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes in the first five years. The HAFF will also help to address some of Australia’s most acute housing needs, with investments in improving housing in remote Indigenous communities and increasing housing options for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness.