The first round of Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund and National Housing Accord programs will deliver 4,220 social and 9,522 affordable homes, including 1,267 homes for women and children escaping domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness.

The Fund will also support housing in remote Indigenous communities, and housing and specialist services for veterans experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.

This is the single biggest investment in housing in over a decade, and in just the first round of these programs, the Albanese Government is directly supporting more social and affordable homes than the Coalition did in their entire nine years in office.

Housing Australia has recommended contract negotiations for 185 projects, with construction on almost 40 per cent of the 13,742 dwellings forecast to get underway this financial year.

Round one of the programs’ funding will unlock $9.2 billion of investment in social and affordable housing across Commonwealth, State and Territory government, and the private and community housing sectors.
The programs will provide an ongoing funding stream to build 40,000 social and affordable housing projects, with applications for round two opening in the next six months.

Federal Member for Blair Shayne Neumann said he expected to see a number of housing projects rolled out in Blair as part of round one of the Housing Australia Future Fund.

“Ipswich is one of the fastest growing regions in the country with around 17 people moving to the city every day, and contributing to housing and rental stress, so we urgently need more housing.

“The first round of funding under our Housing Australia Future Fund will deliver thousands of social and affordable homes across Australia for those that need it most, including in Ipswich and the Somerset Region,” Mr Neumann said.

“The Commonwealth is back in the game of delivering social and affordable houses at scale, working with all levels of government and the community housing sector to deliver the biggest investment in social housing in over a decade.

“It shows the LNP’s utter disregard for housing that in just the first round of this program, Labor is supporting more social and affordable homes than they did in their entire nine years in office.

“We want to reduce the stress of housing for locals – the long waits on housing lists, the long queues for rentals, the out of reach deposit for first home buyers – we’ll reduce these issues if we build more houses, and that’s what these projects will do.

“We’re building homes for renters, first-home buyers, women and children escaping domestic violence, and older women at risk from homelessness and others because more homes means more affordable housing for everyone."