When the Albanese government announced the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund in 2023, the news reverberated through the housing sector.

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A new funding facility to help build 30,000 social and affordable rental homes in five years. Given we only increased Australia's social housing stock by 24,000 dwellings in the decade to 2024, this represents a significant uptick.

The future fund is part of the National Housing Accord's overall commitment to build 1.2 million new homes by the end of the decade. This target is now in serious doubt following advice from Treasury.

Nonetheless, people were genuinely excited and hopeful about the focus on meeting the housing needs of lower-income people.

But stakeholders were also sceptical - and they had every right to be.

The future fund is a dedicated investment vehicle that helps finance new housing builds using the returns on the original $10 billion endowment.

It does this by distributing loans and grants via competitive funding rounds open to not-for-profits, the private sector and other levels of government.

When announcing the scheme, then Housing Minister Julie Collins said it would help address acute housing needs for people who are especially vulnerable: "...this will provide housing support to remote Indigenous communities, women and children experiencing domestic and family violence, older women at risk of homelessness, and veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness."

Two funding rounds have so far been announced - 9284 social dwellings and 9366 affordable homes.

State and territory governments are involved in the process by providing access to land, expediting planning approvals, and sometimes acting as developers.

The future fund is what the housing sector has been begging for for decades. It is a consistent, somewhat protected pot of funding with a........

© Canberra Times