WHAT WAS CLAIMED
No homes have been built under Labor government housing policies since the last election.
OUR VERDICT
False. At least 119 new homes have been built under Labor policies since May 2022.
AAP FACTCHECK - Opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar is falsely claiming that no homes have been built under Labor housing policies since the Albanese government was elected.
But government data shows at least 119 new homes have been built under the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator (SHA), established by Labor in June 2023 to deliver an expected 4000 new and refurbished homes.
Mr Sukkar has repeated the false claims in recent months, publishing graphics on Facebook that depict Prime Minister Anthony Albanese holding a sign claiming zero homes have been built under Labor government policies.
"Today marks 1,000 days since the election and not one home has been built under a Labor housing policy," the caption on Mr Sukkar's February 14 Facebook post reads.
When asked for evidence for his claim, Mr Sukkar's office doubled down in a statement to AAP FactCheck, reiterating that Labor's policies have not delivered a "single new home".
"Mr Sukkar stands by this claim, which is unequivocally correct," a spokesperson said.
But publicly available data tells a different story. Biannual disclosures from states and territories under the SHA list new builds completed as at June 2024.
Additional updated data provided to AAP FactCheck by state governments shows 68 new houses were built in NSW and 38 in Queensland as at February 2025.
A further 13 new dwellings have been built so far in Victoria using funding from the accelerator.
Thousands more new houses are currently being constructed under the SHA and other policies, including the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), which passed the Senate in September 2023.
The HAFF outlays $500 million a year towards community and affordable housing from a $10 billion public investment fund, with the goal of delivering 40,000 homes by 2029 in tandem with investors such as superannuation funds.
The Opposition has been leading critics of the policy, with Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg suggesting the HAFF hasn't passed the contract-signing stage.
"It's taken the government 18 months to just sign a few contracts, let alone put a shovel in the ground or assemble some bricks and mortar," Senator Bragg told the ABC in February.
"The government's been good at building bureaucracies and not houses."
However, data from Housing Minister Clare O'Neil shows hundreds of high-density developments are being built across NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia under the HAFF.
Additional developments are also under way in the Northern Territory, Tasmania and the ACT.
Some projects have progressed to the concrete pouring stage.
This includes a development in the Sydney suburb of Arncliffe, which was recently photographed by Nine Newspapers with a large crane on-site.
More than 350 homes are listed as completed under the HAFF to date, although these include acquisitions of dwellings.
AAP FactCheck has not been able to identify any new-builds started with HAFF funding that have been completed.
The program's administrator, Housing Australia, responded to enquiries about the fund, but did not confirm whether any new-builds have been completed under the HAFF.
Hal Pawson, an expert in housing research and policy at the University of NSW, said it's typical for programs like the HAFF to be highly administrative at first.
That's because robust processes for distributing taxpayer funds need to be set up to ensure the fund achieves value for money, he said.
"No reasonable person should be surprised that the program has yet to generate any newly constructed and completed homes," Professor Pawson told AAP FactCheck.
"Housing construction is a complex process that can often take one to two years to complete, even once building works have begun, let alone allowing for the lead-in time required to acquire sites, design structures and secure planning approval."
Michael Fotheringham, managing director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, said it's unsurprising that new-build projects under the HAFF aren't yet finished.
A proponent of the HAFF, he said the scheme is focused on higher density dwellings, which require larger projects that take longer than individual houses.
"If you're doing something that's multiple apartments rather than one house per block then you're going to get more people housed," Dr Fotheringham said.
"It's a more effective method for stuff like social housing."
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube.
