Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insists that his target of 1.2 million new homes over the next five years can be reached, after announcing the first “accelerated” social housing project from a $2 billion public housing fund.

Two social housing towers in Carlton, in Melbourne’s inner north, built during the 1960s with 196 units will be torn down to make way for Australia’s first social housing “accelerator” project made up of 231 dwellings.