Housing advocates have made a last-ditch plea to crossbench senators to pass the government’s multibillion dollar housing fund.
Ahead of the last parliamentary sitting week before the two-month long winter break, advocacy groups said the country could not afford delays in implementing the Housing Australia Future Fund.
In a joint statement, representatives from groups including Community Housing Industry Association, Homelessness Australia and the Property Council said the time had come to pass the legislation to address the housing crisis.
“The time for repairing our housing system has arrived,” the joint statement said.
“The new institutions it will create, such as Housing Australia and the Housing Supply Affordability Council need to start their important work.”
The $10 billion fund would aim to invest earnings to build 30,000 social and affordable homes over the next five years.
Negotiations had stalled after the Greens said the government was not doing enough to address the housing crisis, urging more to be done for renters.
Following the impasse, the government announced it would spend $2 billion as a social housing booster payment, which would be shared among the states and territories.
The Greens are yet to decide whether they will now back the bill following the new funding announcement, but will meet later in the week.
Community Housing Industry Association chief executive Wendy Hayhurst was hopeful the additional funding would mean the bill gets over the line.
“This should enable a real kickstart of a proper revival of social and affordable housing,” she told AAP.
“Let’s get this passed and working and so we can move on to other issues.”
Ms Hayhurst said if the bill does not pass parliament during the week, the housing situation would get worse by the time Senate resumes.
“The longer it goes on, and the longer it takes to build housing, people can’t hold out to hope on these projects,” she said.
“The fear is it doesn’t pass this week, will it ever pass?”
