Anthony Albanese claims major win on housing after Senate agrees $10bn fund

After a months-long standoff and $3bn in extra funding, the Prime Minister’s election promise has sailed through the parliament.

Anthony Albanese’s signature housing policy is now legislated after finally clinching support from the crossbench.

After dancing between the two chambers of parliament, the Housing Australia Future Fund Bill finally passed on Thursday.

The HAFF would invest $10bn with the Future Fund and will spend a minimum $500m a year to build at least 30,000 dwellings over five years.

Under a deal announced on Monday, the federal government will chip in a further $1bn for public and community housing in return for the Greens’ support.

It ended a months-long standoff between Labor and the minor party and came after the government tipped in a further $2bn in funding to the states for public housing in June.

Anthony Albanese has celebrated the deal as a win. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Prime Minister said the policy was the “single biggest investment in housing” for more than a decade.

As the Bill passed the House of Representatives on Thursday, Mr Albanese said it marked the completion of Labor’s major election policy commitments.

In a statement, he and Housing Minister Julie Collins said the legislation would be “life changing” and 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 pair said.

Earlier in the week, he thanked the crossbench – particularly the Greens – for their support.

“We are working for Australia and we are delivering on our commitments each and every day,” he said on Tuesday.

“I thank the crossbench in both the House of Representatives and the Senate for their support. Those opposite, of course, continue to say no.”

The HAFF has been legislated, after securing a deal with the Senate crossbench. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Ms Collins said government aimed to get the ball rolling “as soon as possible” and said states and territories had begun filing bids to access the newly negotiated funds.

“We have been talking to community housing providers and states and they all have a pipeline of things ready to go” she told reporters on Thursday.

“We’re obviously relying on eight different jurisdictions to move.”

Ms Collins responded to concerns about people struggling with rising rental costs and said housing ministers were due to meet towards the end of the year to negotiate national consistency on renters’ rights.

“We understand that Australians and renters are doing it tough – and the answer here is supply,” she said.

“Supply is the answer to putting downward pressure on rents.”

Housing Minister Julie Collins said the government wanted to ensure the deal was passed in a ‘careful’ and ‘calibrated’ way. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

In August, national cabinet agreed to limit rent increases to once a year, falling short of the Greens demand for a nationally co-ordinated rent freeze.

Rent freezes are opposed by all state and territory governments.

The Greens have vowed to “hold firm” on renters’ rights and warned that Labor risked losing seats at the next election if it did not shift its gears.

“If this is what it takes to get Labor to recognise they have to shift on rents, then there’s a lot of seats across the country that they stand to lose to the Greens,” a party spokesman said on Tuesday.

“If we come to the next election and they (Labor) have genuinely not shifted on rents, I think that would be catastrophic for them.”

It’s understood Sydney, held by frontbencher Tanya Plibersek, and Josh Burns’ seat of Macnamara in inner Melbourne, are key target for the Greens.