Labor in late push to salvage $10bn ‘white elephant’ Housing Australia Future Fund scheme

Labor has asked the Coalition to help it fast-track construction of 5500 affordable houses – under a $10bn scheme the Opposition claims has not produced a single new home.

Labor has been accused of making an “embarrassing” attempt to boost its housing credentials mid-election by seeking permission from the Coalition to approve new projects under a fund the Opposition says hasn’t produced a single additional home.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has written to her Coalition counterpart Michael Sukkar requesting her department be allowed to execute contracts with up to 92 developers planning to build about 5500 social and affordable homes under Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), insisting the projects can’t afford the three-week delay until after the election.

During campaigns, governments go into caretaker mode, meaning major funding and other decisions cannot be made without agreement from the Opposition.

In the letter sent on Wednesday, Ms O’Neil said any delays to the contracts already in progress “may add cost risks and deter investment in these projects”.

“I am of the view that Housing Australia should receive bipartisan support to continue processes to execute contracts for previously announced and budgeted for projects,” she wrote to Mr Sukkar.

Housing Minister Clare O'Neil in federal parliament. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ms O’Neil said the urgency was due to the “uncertainty” created for developers in the advanced stages of finalising funding agreements with the Albanese Government after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced two weeks ago in his budget reply the Coalition would “stop” the $10bn HAFF.

But Mr Sukkar described Ms O’Neil’s letter as a “desperate eleventh-hour push” to try and get homes approved on the eve of the election.

“Australians aren’t blind to the fact that this is too little, too late,” he said.

“This is an embarrassing admission by Clare O’Neil that Labor’s signature housing policies haven’t produced a single new additional home in three years, with 340 homes merely ‘acquired and converted’ under the HAFF – not new builds as promised,” he said.

Coalition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar says Labor’s push to fast-track new housing is “too little, too late”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Sukkar said Ms O’Neil would be “better off spending the rest of the campaign trying to build a house herself”.

“Then at least Labor could say they built one house under the HAFF,” he said.

Labor has pledged the fund would deliver 40,000 new social and affordable homes over five years, but the scheme was significantly delayed after the Greens initially teamed up with the Coalition to block it in the Senate.

The HAFF eventually passed parliament at the end of 2023, and in September last year the first round of funding offers went out to 185 “preferred” applicants.

Of these 91 have signed agreements for 8246 social and affordable homes, but a further 92 are still in talks over a further 5565 homes.

These agreements must be completed by June 30 this year, meaning Labor would still have time to complete them if successful at the election on May 3.

But Ms O’Neil has asked the Coalition to let her know by April 15 if work on the remaining contracts can be finished.

“Many Australians on the social housing waiting list could soon move into these homes if the Coalition provides assent for social and affordable housing contracts to continue to be signed,” she said.

Originally published as Labor in late push to salvage $10bn ‘white elephant’ Housing Australia Future Fund scheme