Social Housing Accelerator

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Background

On 17 June 2023, the Government announced a new $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator to provide thousands of new and refurbished social homes across Australia.

The funds were delivered to the states and territories in June 2023 so they could start building new homes immediately.

This investment will permanently increase the nation’s stock of social housing. Around 4,000 new and refurbished homes are expected for Australians on social housing waiting lists.

States and territories must meet strict reporting and assurance requirements. They must show that the projects are additional to business as usual and permanently increase the supply of social housing.

This includes providing implementation plans and six‑monthly progress reports called Statements of Assurance from early 2024 to 2028.

More information is available in the Federation Funding Agreement Schedule.

Implementation plans

State and territory implementation plans were due to the Commonwealth on 30 September 2023. They outline how the states and territories will spend their share of the Social Housing Accelerator funds:

States and territories may update their plans over time, including to provide additional information on projects when it is no longer commercially sensitive.

Statements of Assurance

All states and territories must provide six‑monthly Statements of Assurance to the Commonwealth from early 2024 to 2028. These reports will detail the new social housing funded by the Accelerator in the previous six months.

More information on the reporting requirements is available in the Federation Funding Agreement Schedule.

States and territories must report on the dwellings committed, commenced, and completed.

These terms are defined as:

  • Committed: When the project has been formally contracted (i.e., contract executed).
  • Commenced: When the head contractor has site possession and is able to begin material work on the site.
  • Completed: When the head contractor has reached practical completion of the work and the site is able to become tenanted.

The Statements of Assurance must be approved by at least a Deputy Secretary equivalent in the respective state or territory agency.

  • 1 July 2023 to 31 December 2023, Statements of Assurance [PDF 3.09MB]
  • 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2024, Statements of Assurance [PDF 12.7MB]
Funds ($ millions) as at 30 June 2024
State Total allocated Committed but not spent Spent
New South Wales 610.1 209.9 115.7
Victoria 496.5 4.5 17.0
Queensland 398.3 61.2 5.6
Western Australia 209.2 149.1 11.8
South Australia 135.8 103.7 0.0
Tasmania 50.0 50.0 0.0
Northern Territory 50.0 3.7 0.4
ACT 50.0 0.0 0.0
Total 2,000 582.2 150.5
Dwellings as at 30 June 2024
State Allocated in implementation plans Committed but not commenced Commenced
but not completed		 Completed
New South Wales 1,500 217 328 351
Victoria 692–769 0 16 24
Queensland 600 111 24 0
Western Australia 598 293 0 27
South Australia 230* 319 0 0
Tasmania 116 114 2 0
Northern Territory 100 8 0 0
ACT 55–65 0 0 0
Total 3,891–3,978 1062 370 402

*Note: the figure in South Australia’s implementation plan have yet to reflect the outcome of a competitive bidding process.