National Housing and Homelessness Plan
About the National Housing and Homelessness Plan
The National Housing and Homelessness Plan is a part of the Australian Government’s housing strategy. The Plan will inform future housing and homelessness policy in Australia.
Purpose of the Plan
The Australian Government understands that safe and affordable housing is central to the security and dignity of Australians. Safe and affordable housing also has bigger benefits for our communities and economies.
The Plan will unite efforts to improve housing and homelessness outcomes across the board. This includes making it easier for Australians to buy or rent a home and reducing homelessness. The Plan also aims to better support people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
The Plan is a key part of the government’s ambitious housing reform agenda, which also includes:
- a further 10% increase to the maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance to assist low-income renters, building on the 15% increase in September 2023
- the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which will support the delivery of 30,000 new social and affordable homes over its first 5 years
- the National Housing Accord (Accord) to build 1.2 million new, well-located homes over 5 years from 1 July 2024
- an additional $350 million over 5 years from 2024-25 to support funding of 10,000 affordable homes under the Accord – state and territory governments will match this funding
- providing tax incentives to support build-to-rent developments to reduce barriers to new supply in the private rental market
- increasing the Housing Australia's liability cap by an additional $2 billion. This change allows Housing Australia to provide more loans to community housing providers for social and affordable housing, supporting around an additional 7,000 dwellings
- allowing the National Housing Infrastructure Facility more flexibility to invest $575 million and make it easier to build new social housing and affordable homes
- expanding who can apply for the Home Guarantee Scheme to help more people buy a home sooner
- a $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator payment to states and territories to deliver around 4,000 new and refurbished homes for Australians on social housing waiting lists
- committing to A Better Deal for Renters to balance and strengthen renters’ rights across Australia. These changes will include requiring genuine reasonable grounds for eviction, moving towards limiting rental increases to once a year and phasing in minimum rental standards
Consultation and engagement
Key stakeholders have been consulted in developing the Plan. The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council also provided advice.
There was broad public consultation in 2023 on what is needed to improve Australians’ access to safe and affordable housing. We are grateful for the wide range of people and organisations who contributed to the consultation, especially the people with lived experience of housing insecurity and homelessness and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who shared their stories. A Consultation Summary Report is now available.
We heard about the deep and complex challenges of housing and homelessness experienced by people across the country. We also recognise the challenges faced by organisations providing services.
We wish to express our thanks to every person and organisation who has engaged with the Plan’s consultation process. This includes those who provided a submission, attended a consultation event and shared their experiences to support the development of the Plan.
More information
Visit our Engage website to learn more about the consultation.