Housing fund for low-income earners slammed for building zero homes as election nears

It was meant to build 30,000 homes within five years — but as the federal election looms, a flagship Labor policy is yet to deliver any completed projects.

Labor’s flagship housing future fund has been slammed for not completing a single home, as the end of the Albanese government’s first term nears.

Almost eighteen months after the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) was legislated, funding has only been agreed on for 800 homes across the country, despite Anthony Albanese saying in 2021 that 30,000 new affordable and social homes would be built through the scheme over five years.

The slow start has given rise to concerns over when the thousands of homes will be built, as the Coalition vows to scrap the $10 billion fund and instead pump money into a new infrastructure scheme.

Coalition assistant spokesman for home ownership Senator Andrew Bragg said the fund had become an expensive bureaucracy which had failed to shift the dial on new homes being built.

“Labor has built bureaucracies, not houses — their bureaucracies are very good at paying executive salaries, but they’re not very good at digging holes or building houses,” he said.

“We’ve said we wouldn’t continue with it — (we have a) policy where we’ll fund infrastructure like sewage and roads directly — the government isn’t going to build the houses.”

In his 2021 reply to the Coalition budget, then-opposition leader Mr Albanese vowed the fund would help build 30,000 social and affordable homes within five years by funding the projects.

While 800 homes have been contracted and announced under the scheme, a target of 30,000 over five years seems far away.

“Over the first five years, we will build around 20,000 social housing properties – places like the home I grew up in,” he said.

“We will also build 10,000 affordable housing properties for frontline workers – the heroes of the pandemic that kept us safe.”

Last month Housing Australia announced contracts for about 800 social and affordable homes to be built, partly funded under the Housing Australia Future Fund, with construction beginning on some of the projects.

The government maintains up to 13,700 homes are in the pipeline for construction using HAFF funding, with those homes in planning systems.

Anthony Albanese vowed the fund would help build 30,000 social and affordable homes within five years. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, when grilled last week in the Senate on how many homes had been built under the fund, said: “I’m advised that 24,000 homes are in the pipeline through direct Commonwealth investment, including 13,700 under round one of the HAFF”.

Senator Bragg also raised concerns over the ownership of projects, after one of the projects to receive HAFF funding under the scheme was contracted to developer Assemble, which is backed by two of Australia’s largest superannuation funds.

“We want Australians to own houses … not big companies like super funds,” Senator Bragg said, adding homes for low-income earners under the Coalition “won’t be owned by the superannuation industry”.

The Coalition’s plans to dump the scheme follows their announcement that they’ll pump $5 billion into enabling infrastructure for new homes, including sewage, water connections and roads.

Housing and Homelessness Minister Clare O'Neil has accused the federal opposition of contributing to the delay by resisting passing the necessary legislation. Picture: NewsWire/Ian Currie

The Opposition believes the funding would allow up to 500,000 homes be built.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil accused the Opposition of contributing to a delay in new homes being built under the scheme, pointing to the Coalition’s resistance when Labor attempted to pass the legislation.

“It’s hard to take the Liberals seriously when they talk about social and affordable homes – the facts are Labor is building 55,000 over the next 5 years, Peter Dutton has no plan to build any,” she said.

“Are the Liberals seriously complaining about a delay in a policy when they caused the delay? What’s worse is they’ve committed to cutting the HAFF if elected and the 90,000 jobs it supports.

“The simple fact is that the HAFF is delivering. Thousands of homes are under construction right now – and we’d have many more completed if the Liberals hadn’t delayed this for a year.”

The Coalition’s other home ownership policies include a plan to allow first homebuyers to access up to $50,000 from their super for a deposit, while the party will also ban foreign investors buying homes for two years, in a policy matched on the weekend by Labor and due to come into effect from April.

Housing Industry Australia’s chief executive of industry and policy, Simon Croft, said there was appetite from the industry to partner with funds like the HAFF, but raised concerns over timelines.

“It’s important to see the federal government in this space of social and affordable housing … across the housing continuum collectively, we need more of all forms of housing across this spectrum,” he said.

But he said the need for builders to get accreditation from government departments had helped contribute to the slow start.

“The legislation and mechanisms have taken longer than we would have liked to seen to be implemented … It’s been a challenge to get the program up and running, but we’re glad to see those first 800 (dwellings) breaking ground.”

Originally published as Housing fund for low-income earners slammed for building zero homes as election nears