Housing Australia Future Fund - Funding Round 3 Frequently Asked Questions

An applicant may submit multiple applications within a single Stream, subject to the availability of dwellings and the HAFF Round 3 program concentration limit.

Applicants eligible for multiple streams may submit applications under each eligible Stream; however, applications across different streams cannot be combined.

An applicant cannot submit the same project or site in multiple streams.

All streams will open in late January 2026 when the Call for Submissions is released.

Eligible Applicants: Eligibility to apply is defined under each Stream. Eligible Applicants include State and Territory Governments, Local Governments, Community Housing Providers, First Nations Housing Providers, Veteran Housing Providers, HAFF Special Purpose Vehicles and - at the Expression of Interest stage -  Housing Enablers. 

A Housing Enabler is a developer, builder, landowner, financier or investor who will be required to demonstrate how they will partner with an Eligible Funding Recipient. 

Eligible Funding Recipients: The scope of Eligible Funding Recipients under the HAFF has not changed from Round One and includes State and Territory Governments, Local Governments, Community Housing Providers, First Nations Housing Providers, Veteran Housing Providers, and HAFF Special Purpose Vehicles. 

Note that, Local Government entities and Housing Enablers cannot directly receive funding from Housing Australia. Local Governments and Housing Enablers will have the opportunity to apply but will need to partner with an Eligible Funding Recipient by the Detailed Application stage. 

Housing Australia is encouraging Eligible Applicants to partner with each other or the broader sector to increase the availability of social and affordable housing under HAFF Round 3.

This may include partnerships to secure land, finance, delivery partners and to meet HAFF Round 3 eligibility and evaluation criteria. Partners may include community housing providers, developers, builders, landowners, financiers, investors, States and Territory agencies, Local Governments and faith-based organisations, among others.

Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), registered as a Community Housing Provider and a Charity, play an important role in enabling partnerships, accessing funding and managing project risks in the HAFF program. Housing Australia will be seeking evidence about the governance and financial structure of SPVs to ensure community benefits. 

In most instances, to access a Concessional Loan under HAFF Round 3, you must be an SPV registered as a Community Housing Provider and Charity. 

Further guidance on SPVs will be provided in the Call For Submissions. 

To determine metro, regional or rural classifications for application size, Housing Australia will use a combination of the ABS 2021 Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA) and ABS Remoteness Area frameworks.

Applicants can access ABS Map to determine whether their project locations are metro or regional. 

A location is deemed 'metro' if BOTH the GCCSA and Remoteness frameworks label the location as 'Greater Capital City' and a 'Major City'. All other locations will be classified as either regional or rural.

A Specialist Housing Provider is an organisation that delivers tailored housing services to one or more priority cohorts under the HAFF, which includes:

• women and children impacted by domestic and family violence
• older women at risk of homelessness
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• current or former members (veterans) of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

In Stream 2 (Housing Diversity) and Stream 4 (Partnerships at Scale), 10 per cent of all social housing within an application must be dedicated to First Nations households.

In Stream 3 (States and Territories), 10 per cent of a State or Territory social dwelling allocation must be dedicated to First Nations households.

No specific requirements apply regarding other priority cohorts. However, applicants are encouraged to dedicate dwellings to priority cohorts on a needs basis.

All projects in HAFF Round 3 must be well-located, meaning they are close to work, schools, transport and other amenities. Project locations should support improved productivity and liveability.

Housing Australia is seeking to support housing outcomes that are representative of population distribution and housing need. We strongly encourage proposals in regional and remote areas with funding designed to encourage these applications. 

Housing Australia is  making all reasonable efforts to support Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Tasmania to reach their 1,200 minimum dwelling targets under the HAFF.

Jurisdictional distribution of dwellings across all States and Territories will be monitored. Housing Australia reserves the right to adjust Stream parameters during HAFF Round 3 to support a distribution of housing outcomes. 

Projects can include development of dwellings by the Applicant or contracting with a development partner for delivery of new dwellings. 

Applicants may also propose significant renovation of existing residential dwellings that were otherwise uninhabitable, or the conversion of a non-residential property to a residential dwelling. Significant renovation must include substantial works which are required to make the dwelling habitable and are not primarily cosmetic in nature.

Yes, Housing Australia is accepting both development of dwellings by the Applicant or contracting with a development partner for delivery of new dwellings (commonly referred to as turnkey).

Housing Australia will consider traditional and modern construction methods which assist in delivering quality dwellings in the required delivery timeframe.

HAFF Round 3 (HAFF - Social and Affordable) will focus on increasing the supply of social and affordable housing.

HAFF - Crisis and Transitional specifically supports the expansion of crisis and transitional housing.

The First Nations Funding Stream will open in full at the same time as all other Streams from late January 2026.

The First Nations Funding Stream will provide funding for eligible social housing projects. All projects must be completed by 30 June 2029.

Housing Australia is working with the Housing Policy Partnership and key stakeholders to design and establish the First Nations Concierge Service. Further details on the Service and how First Nations led organisations can access tailored supports will be available from late January 2026.

Each Call for Submissions Application represents a Portfolio ("Portfolio Application").

A Portfolio can comprise of one or multiple projects in more than one state or territory. A project can be one site or multiple sites. For a project containing multiple sites, all sites must be wholly located within the same state or territory.

We encourage applicants to submit projects by sites or dwellings that have a common operation commencement period. 

Housing Australia will contract the Application under a single Framework Funding Agreement (FFA) with a single contracting entity (Eligible Funding Recipient). Where a consortium forms, the Application must be managed by a lead proponent.

Housing Australia seeks to fund at least 21,350 dwellings in HAFF Round 3, including 10,634 social and 10,716 affordable dwellings. To achieve this, Housing Australia has set social and affordable dwelling requirements at the Application level. The blend may vary at a Project and site level.

These requirements are fixed. Applicants should not go below or above the set requirement:

• in the Partnerships at Scale, an application must be 90 per cent affordable and 10 per cent social
• in Housing Diversity, an application must be 50 per cent affordable and 50 per cent social
• in States and Territories, the State and Territory allocation must include 10 per cent affordable and 90 per cent social.

The Availability Payment is indexed in accordance with Section 4B of the Housing Australia Investment Mandate and relevant section in the Framework Funding Agreement. Indexation occurs in the Financial Year immediately preceding the start of the first Availability Year. 

The Concessional Loan is a deeply subordinated loan. In most cases, the Concessional Loan will be subordinated to senior debt, subordinated debt and equity-like debt. Housing Australia may seek to register fully subordinated security interests. This may include:

• a registered mortgage; and/or
• general security arrangements.

Documents to be released will outline the permissible uses and requirements of the Concessional Loan including the intercreditor principles.

Applicants seeking an Availability Payment and/or Concessional Loan only may submit their own models. Applicants will be provided with guidance detailing the minimum requirements for their own financial models including the requirement for a model audit. 

Applicants also applying for HAFF Senior Debt must use the Housing Australia HAFF Round 3 Financial Model, to be provided.

Housing Australia is seeking to increase the availability of social and affordable housing that would not otherwise be delivered.

This means:

• significantly extending the number or duration of social and affordable housing outcomes
• bringing forward projects that would otherwise not be delivered until much later (for example would not deliver until 2032).

"Additionality" therefore occurs when the proposed projects would be unlikely to be completed by 30 June 2029, or with a lesser impact on new social and/or affordable housing, without HAFF funding provided by Housing Australia.

Greater clarity will be provided in the Call for Submissions, including guidance on project scenarios and whether they can meet additionality requirements. For example, projects subject to local planning commitments that contain affordable housing requirements will need to go above and beyond those pre-existing commitments to satisfy additionality.