The Labor government’s flagship plan to develop 40,000 social and affordable homes over the next five years is at risk because many builders needed to do the work – particularly in regional areas – don’t have workplace health and safety certification required for Commonwealth tenders.

Michele Adair, chief executive of Housing Trust, a community housing provider based in the Illawarra region south of Sydney, said 27 of the 41 homes it wants to develop under the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund were to be built by a builder that wasn’t part of the Federal Safety Commissioner’s WHS Accreditation Scheme.