Housing and homelessness stakeholders are concerned that Labor and the Greens appear to be on a collision course that could see the $10bn housing Australia future fund voted down this week in the Senate.
Since Guardian Australia revealed on Friday that the Albanese government intends to put the bill to a vote, despite not having Greens’ support, Homelessness Australia has called for the bill to pass, while the Everybody’s Home campaign has urged Labor to come back to the bargaining table.
On Monday, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, told reporters in Canberra that “the ball is in the government’s court” but warned it would be “terrible” if Labor forced a vote without the minor party’s support.
“We’ve made it clear that we want to see the government tackle the rental crisis and also guarantee a significant spend on housing because at the moment in its current form [it] doesn’t have our support,” he said – since it does not guarantee a minimum to be spent on housing.
The Albanese government is proposing a $10bn fund, the earnings from which would result in payouts of up to $500m a year to build 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years.
The Coalition opposes the bill. The Greens say they will not support it unless the government offers improvements, such as up to $5bn of direct spending on housing and a national rent freeze.
With support from the Jacqui Lambie Network, the independent senator David Pocock and housing ministers in all eight states and territories, the government believes it is in a strong position to stare down the threat without further concessions.
Bandt said the Greens were “open to negotiation”.
“The government has to show the same kind of willingness to have negotiations on [the] housing bill, as it has with its other bills and to date we haven’t seen that.”
Brendan Coates, economic policy program director at the Grattan Institute, said: “It’s frustrating the biggest housing investment in a decade could languish, with a real risk it doesn’t pass and we go nowhere.
“The Greens rightly point out that this doesn’t go far enough but they over-egg their criticisms of the future fund model.”
Because the government will enter contracts to provide funding to the states to pass on to housing organisations, he said, “They will be obligated to pay out irrespective of returns in a particular year.”
Coates said he “can’t understand” why Labor won’t commit to a minimum yearly disbursement from the fund, noting that it doesn’t appear willing to put more money on the table.
Kate Colvin, the chief executive of Homelessness Australia, told Guardian Australia the peak body would “really like to see the bill passed”, although it was still seeking an amendment to index the $500m maximum spend so the ceiling rises with inflation.
“It’s really urgent we deliver social housing as soon as possible … The bill won’t be enough to fix the really deep issues in the housing market – we would hope there are other measures the government can offer as well.”
Maiy Azize, the spokesperson for the Everybody’s Home, said the campaign was “distressed by reports that the fund will go up for a vote in the Senate before it has enough support to get over the line”.
“We want the fund to pass – we are the biggest cheerleaders for building more social housing built immediately. But that means negotiating until it gets enough support and negotiating to ensure it’s as strong as it can be.
“We can’t risk this fund failing to pass. The housing crisis is urgent and the stakes are too high.
“We’re calling on the government to go back to the negotiating table and strengthen the fund before putting it up for a vote.”
The federal housing minister, Julie Collins, warned that “senators can’t say they support more social and affordable housing but oppose this fund”.
“This week the Senate has a chance to start rolling out 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes across the country … the Liberals and the Greens should not waste this opportunity.”
