“Housing Australia’s call for applications for State and Territory Governments to participate in Funding Round Two of the Federal Government’s Housing Australia Future Fund Facility (HAFFF) is an important acknowledgement that the urgent delivery of social housing is the responsibility of the Government,” Jocelyn Martin, Managing Director of the Housing Industry Association said.

“The latest round will aim to deliver up to 5,000 social homes in addition to the approximately 13,000 social and affordable homes which are being supported by Round One announced earlier in the year. The overall objective of the HAFFF program is to deliver 40,000 social and affordable homes over 5 years. The HAFFF partnership with Governments will enable well-located land and speed to market for approvals which is important to deliver urgent housing to those who needed it most.

“At 40,000 homes, the HAFFF supports a portion of the 1.2 million homes that need to be delivered for housing to be affordable and well-located for all Australians. If this drive to find well-located land and to improve approval processes could be translated to the rest of the market, we would be better placed to address the housing shortage across the board. Dwelling commencements remain approximately 20% below the decade average and this year will fall well short of the 240,000 we need to build per year over the next 5 years to reduce Australia’s housing supply challenges.

“Red tape, slow approval systems, availability of land and delivery of housing infrastructure add cost and slow down the ability to bring new homes to market. It is possible that, governments, by being a customer of the unwieldy and costly systems they have created, might finally see the need to improve conditions for all residential construction,” Ms Martin concluded.

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