We pay our respect to their elders, past and present, and extend that respect, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's joining us today.
The session today will be recorded and available online afterwards to allow colleagues who are not able to be at the webinar today to access the information afterwards. If you have any concerns about the approach, please let us know.
Thank you for joining us today. The Housing Support Program is a $1.5 billion Australian Government initiative. The program forms part of the Commonwealth's commitment to support jurisdictions achieving the National Housing Accord targets.
The Housing Support Program supports the delivery of increased housing by funding projects that seek to deliver enabling and infrastructure and providing energies to support new housing development, or to improve building planning capability. We have two competitive funding streams with $500 million in funding over 2023-24 and 2024-25 available to local governments and state and territory governments only.
Stream 1 closed on the 29 of April [2024], and it focused on improving building planning capability. And we'll talk a little bit more detail about that one in a moment.
Stream 2, which we are here to talk about today, is designed to remove barriers to housing construction by delivering enabling infrastructure and community amenities.
Alongside these two competitive streams, we did have the priority work stream that was announced as part of the 2024-25 Budget. That money was provided on a per capita basis to the states and territories to fund urgent enabling infrastructure and to increase social housing supply. So that is not a competitive stream. We won't be discussing the guidelines for that as such.
There are three key terms that I just wanted to draw out here. Enabling infrastructure was the first, so we are talking about the kind of infrastructure that will support new housing to ensure that the things that are required to allow the housing to be built. It might be things like sewage, stormwater drains, electrification, or they might be the kind of things that will make housing attractive and desirable for those residents. Green spaces, community centres are particularly important. We understand in communities where we are encouraging densification where existing residents will want to see the kind of amenities that they enjoy expanded.
The proposals that are brought forward will need to demonstrate a clear link to the increase of housing development, so there are a lot of things that might be really great ideas that will do really good work in a general, community infrastructure sense, but this has to be very clearly linked to a proposal that will bring online new housing.
Once again, applications are only from state territory and local governments, being the only eligible organisations.
You can partner together so we might look at applications that come both horizontally and vertically, so form a group of councils coming together to bring a proposal forward or councils coming together in partnership with their state or territory government. You might have a proposal that demonstrates that you have got a broader buy-in from the private sector where you have developers who have an interest, all wonderful and really good to see but they cannot be the lead applicant. The lead applicant has to be state, territory or local government.
Stream 1 which closed in April [2024] and outcomes of which were announced by the Prime Minister just under 2 weeks ago, provides critical funding to support master planning and development projects.
We received more than 250 applications for this funding and we funded a total of 80 projects across Australia.
This included 73 local government led projects and seven which were led by state or territory governments. We were really very excited to see the depth and breadth of applications, obviously we're looking at nearly three times oversubscribed for the amount of funding that we had available are so incredibly competitive, but we saw some really fantastic applications that drew out how the Australian Government contribution in funding would help to increase housing stock in those locations.
Just to give you a sort of sense of some of the successful applications we saw really wonderful application from the Byron Shire Council for the delivery of a masterplan development strategy and control plan for residential development of the former Mullumbimby Hospital site. So really looking at how we can help support the repurposing of those kind of things. Campbelltown City Council was also successful to reviewing for a project to review the statutory framework for the reimagining Campbelltown City Centre Masterplan. Cairns City Precincts Urban Regeneration was another really fantastic application that looked at infill housing. And the rural city of Murray Bridge, which received funding to develop and deliver an infrastructure scheme, open space master plan out into town review and residential growth area code amendment. We were really excited to see a hugely strong showing from regional and remote councils.
We saw successful funding applications for Christmas Island Shire Council and for the Torres Strait Council. Councils were as diverse from Cape York down to Tasmania, so excited to see the depth and breadth of things that came forward. And so now really excited to see the depth and breadth [that] come forward for stream 2.
Stream 2 opened on the 5 July. We will be closing on the 16 August. Those who downloaded the guidelines as soon as they were available on 5 July, we'll note that we have now updated the successful projects to commence date the initial date of November 2024 which had been put in there is quite an aspirational target.
We have had quite a bit of feedback from stakeholders that this date is really very unachievable, so we have amended that to the projects will need to be able to commence by the 31 January next year with a completion date of 30 June 2026.
These deadlines are because this program is being delivered in alignment with the Housing Accord Targets and with that program, although that those set of targets running through to 2029, the government's position was that if these projects funded through these streams are being done to kick start the housing that will need to be completed by 2029, that we need to make sure that these are things that can be delivered within short timeframe.
We do acknowledge the tightness of it, but we have also heard loud and clear from stakeholders that many of you have projects that are ready to go and that the funding available from the federal government is what is holding this moving forward, so those deadlines have come forward with really ambitious timeframes.
The types of applications and projects that we're looking for this stream could include a variety of things. The construction of new or the upgrade on existing roads and rail to allow additional housing development, with the one caveat that this can't include things that are subject to funding under the National Land Transport Network, so carving out very differently from what happens there.
We could be looking at this construction of amenities to support new housing developments, although again the link would need to be really clearly drawn about how this will support the new housing, the construction of new housing rather than just being something that is needed for that community.
We could be looking at fixed infrastructure for integrated public transport or active transport, but we have heard very loud and clear through the consultation that we did for this, that the really big things that are needed, particularly by local governments are stormwater drains, sewerage and electrification, so those are absolutely things that are the kinds of projects that we will be looking for in here.
For local government projects, the Australian Government contribution can be up to 100% of the cost of the project. For local governments, we are not, if you would like to make a co-contribution and that will help drive towards the outcomes, that's wonderful, but there is no co-contribution level requirement for local government led projects.
For state and territory governments, the federal government funding will be up to 50% of the total project cost. In states and territories, we are asking for that co-contribution, for local governments, you do not need to do, but you know absolutely where that is appropriate, great to see.
We are really keen to see projects that work cohesively with the reforms that are happening both at a national level and in your particular jurisdiction. So the applications that are going to score more within the project matrix are things that we can see work with the planning, zoning and regulatory frameworks of your jurisdiction, where relevant the national planning reform blueprint where relevant, the land use planning for disaster resilient communities handbook, the National Construction code and the way things are changing in your particular jurisdictions, so we're keen to see that where those things are changing, that this project will be in line with those.
There's no limit to the number of applications that may be made by an applicant, so if you have multiple good projects in your jurisdiction, you should feel free to bring them forward, but the funding cap of $45 million per application still applies, whether grouped or not. If you've brought together a group of applications as one linked proposal, there will be a $45 million cap. But if you have multiple separate applications for different projects, they will have a $45 million cap per application.
The application requirements will include the standard for these types of funding and noting that it will be the level of detail that we are asking for will be commensurate with the amount sought. If you are seeking up near the top cap, we would obviously be seeking far more detail. The project scope, the project budget, alignment with those state territory development plans and housing plans, what your timeline and milestone schedule would look like and the risk assessment for the project.
We are really keen to see that projects which link into a broader housing and development are well thought through and where the Commonwealth contribution is going to complement the other investment that is being made and not duplicate or present barriers. For example, if we see assessments, so project applications coming forward for something like footpaths in a new housing development, we would want to see assurances that things like the cabling for telecommunications networks to that housing development have been done before a footpath goes in so that we're not seeing scenarios where those footpaths are being dug up in six months time because the broadband cabling hasn't gone in or equivalent.
The level of information provided should be consistent with the size and the complexity of the project and the amount of funding you are requesting from the Commonwealth.
Applications will go through a three-stage process, there will be an eligibility assessment and ineligible applications will not proceed beyond that point. There will then be a merit assessment undertaken of those eligible applications, and finally, a ministerial decision, consideration and decision making. In terms of eligibility, like I said, only state, territory and local governments are eligible.
The applications will need to contain all the mandatory information and be submitted by the closing date. The merit assessment will have cost assurance and independent moderation where necessary, while the assessment is undertaken by the department. The final decision will be made by the Minister.
As with stream 1, if we discover if any minor corrections or administrative errors that have been made, we will contact you as soon as possible to get that information.
This doesn't include where entire information has not been provided, so we're trying to find a balance between not finding applications ineligible because of minor administrative errors. We saw some in stream 1, one where a couple of numbers had been left off the end of an ABN when someone had cut and pasted them in.
We're really happy to contact you and get that information, but if applications have come to us incomplete with whole sections missing or key signatures, key documents have not been authorised and we’re then giving you several days to fix that, that's completely unfair to other applicants. In those cases where it's not minor administrative, where there's entire sections missing, those will be considered ineligible.
Minor things we can help with, things that will prejudice other applicants, we will not be seeking to follow up with, and those applications will be deemed to be ineligible
f you have not included referenced attachments, if you have only partially completed your merit criteria in the version you submit to us, that version will be considered final and we will assess on the basis of what you have provided.
Where possible, a confirmation of receipt of application will be provided within 48 hours. We are working on an email system as per stream 1. If you do not receive a confirmation email within the 48 hours, please reach out to us. The systems have been pretty reliable to date, but we just want to make sure that we don't miss an application. Late applications can be accepted under exceptional circumstances and requests will be considered on a case by case basis by the department. If for example, your jurisdiction is in the middle of a natural disaster when our deadline is due, we will grant you an extension on that application.
If, however, people have taken leave and the applications haven't been finalised, we will not be giving you an extension for that. Those are definitely foreseeable things and the minister makes the final decision on which projects are funded.
To walk through the three-stage process on assessment, there will be 4 separate criteria. We are still finalising the weighting that we will apply to each, but we have included this weighting in the draft application form which has just been refreshed on our website to help you better target your application and just provide that additional layer of information for you.
[Firstly], alignment with the program objectives requires that a project increases the supply of well-located housing, improves housing affordability supply and diversity, enables more community, social and/or affordable housing and works cohesively as relevant to that project with those jurisdictional and national codes and planning reforms.
The second criteria is the overall impact on housing supply, so your application must include an analysis of the overall contribution of the project to new housing supply and over what time period that impact will occur. Please note this criteria differs from the regional weighting applied for stream 1.
The decision of government was that for this stream dwellings in regional areas will not have a weighting applied to them, so it will be 1 for 1 in all applications. The higher the number of houses able to be supported, the more strongly you will score against this criteria.
Your application should show the need for investment by the Commonwealth – why there have been any barriers preventing investment to date and why this piece of infrastructure will unlock that housing supply and finally your organisation's capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project. So previous projects, the types of initiatives that have been delivered, the governance structure and how you anticipate being able to meet what are relatively ambitious timeframes for construction.
The guidelines as well as the merit assessment also include a range of project impacts for applicant consideration.
These represent priority areas for the Australian Government and we are very interested to see how the projects that are brought forward can address these. While the completion of the section is mandatory, we won't penalise applications that are unable to address criteria 2, 3 and 4 because we understand that those factors won't be relevant to all projects, so for all projects it is mandatory that you detail how your local community engagement and co design has been undertaken.
Evidence of your community engagement demonstrating where you have been able to, or if you have been able to implement elements of codesign, and if that community engagement is ongoing for a project, what those timeframes are and how those consultations will influence project design and delivery, so that is mandatory for all, for applications where it is relevant.
We [also] ask that you also demonstrate the impacts for items 2, 3 and 4, so that is housing and socio economic outcomes for First Nations Australians, and we would encourage you to use unique and/or innovative ways to working with First Nation stakeholders demonstrating how these are consistent with Closing the Gap, priority reforms 3 and 4, this might be about the secondary benefits of projects, it might be showing how you have engaged First Nations communities or how you have used First Nations storytelling to help engage the broader community.
Number 3 is around the transition to net zero and circular economy, so noting that the built environment is key to personal and working lives of Australians, how can efficient construction, including through the careful selection of materials and planning decisions, reduce direct emissions in the construction phase, as well as reducing waste and embodied emissions. If you are responding to this criterion, you should include how emissions and emissions reductions are proposed to be measured, including any appropriate benchmarking and historical data that you're using to rely on that.
And finally, the training and skills development where this is relevant to the project at hand, you should outline the opportunities for it to contribute to the training and skills development, particularly for trades, as well as for work, learning placements for tertiary and other further education in relevant fields.
I'm sure you are all aware, we have a real workforce shortage across, a lot of relevant fields, from planners and surveyors, right through to bricklayers and carpenters, so where your project is going to be able to help us uplift that training and skills development we're looking for you to outline that here against criterion for.
Where these aren't relevant or where they might be relevant, but you haven't been able to address them strongly, you can indicate the barriers to doing so and the approach you've taken and any alternatives you've identified. You won't be penalised for being unable to address criteria 2, 3 and 4, but obviously those applications that are able to strongly address all 4 of them are going to score more highly than ones that that cannot.
Our information for successful applicants is currently on the website. Funding for this program will be delivered through schedules to the Federation Funding Agreement (FFA), affordable Housing, Community services and other. Because that is a state and federal government negotiation which doesn't include local governments, the types of information that are in that to be negotiated in the FFA schedule put in this information for successful applicants documents so that they are available to local government applicants. But where there is any inconsistency, the conditions of the FFA will take precedence.
he information guide includes things that are standard for kind of whole of government programs, so the need to seek clearance then offer events and media opportunities to the Australian Government, the expected reporting obligations, evidence for achieving milestones and those kinds of things, so the real mechanics are in that document.
As with stream 1, we will be updating frequently asked questions on our website on a weekly basis, so please keep an eye on the website for that. Other questions can be addressed in writing to our group inbox.