The federal government has made a one-off $2 billion investment in social housing around the country, with funding to be distributed among the states and territories over the next two weeks, ABC News reports.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the $2 billion "Social Housing Accelerator" during a speech at the Victorian Labor Conference last week.
Mr Albanese held a phone hook-up with premiers and chief ministers on Friday to discuss arrangements for the new funding.
As part of the deal, the funding will have to be committed to projects within two years.
It can go towards new builds, or renovating and refurbishing existing but uninhabitable housing stock.
Each state and territory will receive a base of $50 million in funding, with the rest to be distributed on a per-capita basis.
Mr Albanese said the package would help address a shortage of social housing sooner.
"This is new money – right now – for new social housing," he says.
"The last decade has seen the proportion of social housing decline from 4.7 per cent to 4.2 per cent of households. Demand for social housing has increased almost three times as fast as the growth in population.
"We are determined to work with state and territory governments to reverse this decline, as part of our commitment to expand housing supply."
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Federal government to spend $2 billion on social housing around Australia (ABC News)
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ABC News
