A spotlight on the current affordable housing crisis – An Overview from the Federal Budget 2024/25
The 2024/25 Federal Budget has announced $6.2 billion of new initiatives in the budget to respond to Australia’s housing shortage.
Here’s an overview of the key investments provided in the Federal Budget:
The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), which was announced and established late last year, is aimed at delivering 30,000 new social and affordable homes within its first five years.
This Budget also provides additional concessional financing of up to $1.9 billion for community housing providers and other charities to support delivery of new social and affordable dwellings under the HAFF and the National Housing AccordThe Government will deliver 10,000 affordable homes, to be matched by states and territories, under the National Housing Accord.
The Social Housing Accelerator program will receive $2 billion to fund the construction of around 4,000 new and refurbished social homes.
Expanding the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator by increasing Housing Australia’s liability cap to $10 billion from $5.5 billion to support ongoing delivery of the program.
An additional $1 billion for the National Housing Infrastructure Facility (NHIF), which is aimed at enhancing support for crisis and transitional accommodation, particularly for women and children escaping domestic violence and youth.
An additional $1 billion will be available to states and territories to deliver more housing-enabling infrastructure to support the supply of new homes. This investment expands on the $500 million that has already been committed.
Whilst the Federal Budget is a step in the right direction to address the current housing crisis, our client base of community housing providers, developers, builders and private investors have expressed the need for more capital funding in this space to ensure projects are commercially and financially viable to allow the outcomes to be delivered.
Briget O’Callaghan
Principal Lawyer
T 03 5225 5244 | M 0436 456 144
E bocallaghan@ha.legal
Evelyn Zeglinas
Associate
T 03 5225 5245
E ezeglinas@ha.legal
Maddi Batchelor
Graduate Lawyer
T: 03 5225 5214
E: mbatchelor@ha.legal
