Terry’s View – Why the Housing Fund Is A Failure

The Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) was sold to Australians as the Federal Government’s answer to the nation’s housing crisis. It was supposed to deliver tens of thousands of desperately needed homes while proving that Canberra could tackle one of the country’s biggest challenges.

Instead, it has become a case study in bureaucratic failure, unrealistic promises and poor execution.

According to the Australian National Audit Office, it is nowhere near meeting its targets. Since 2023 the $10 billion fund has only delivered 1,432 of the 40,000 social and affordable rental homes it promised to deliver by 2029.

The Auditor-General says there has been “insufficient transparency” over delivery, costs and outcomes, weak governance arrangements and inadequate oversight.

Meanwhile, Australians continue to experience record rents, critically low vacancy rates and worsening affordability while the government’s flagship response remains bogged down in administration.

The construction sector is indeed facing one of its toughest periods in decades, and there is no doubt builders are confronting labour shortages, rising costs and planning delays. But those challenges were hardly a surprise. Anyone familiar with Australia’s housing market knew these constraints existed before the HAFF was announced.

Good policy accounts for reality rather than pretending it doesn’t exist.

This is the fundamental problem with the HAFF. It has been built around political announcements rather than practical delivery.

Australia desperately needs more homes. More specifically, it desperately needs more affordable homes.

What it doesn’t need is another expensive bureaucracy producing reports, restructures, governance reviews and excuses while housing shortages continue to worsen.