HIA and Master Builders Join Welfare Groups to Demand a 20-Year Social Housing Plan: 6% of Homes by 2050, About 23,000 Extra a Year. Here's What It Means for Your Pipeline.

Builders and welfare groups take one plan to Canberra

Australia's two big builder groups have signed up to a single housing ask alongside the welfare and homelessness sector. On Thursday 29 October, the National Affordable Housing Alliance (NAHA) called on all governments to put in place a coordinated, 20-year national plan for social and affordable housing, and its members took the platform to Canberra the same day.

The alliance brings together seven organisations that don't often share a platform:

| NAHA member | Sector | | --- | --- | | Housing Industry Association (HIA) | Residential building | | Master Builders Australia | Building and construction | | Property Council of Australia | Property and investment | | National Shelter | Housing advocacy | | Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) | Community services | | Homelessness Australia | Homelessness services | | Australian Community Housing | Community housing providers |

"These organisations represent a broad range of interests and policy perspectives across the housing system. That makes our agreement significant: we agree Australia needs a long-term housing supply plan that delivers demonstrably more social and affordable housing," said Jackson Hills, NAHA's current Chair and CEO of National Shelter.

The numbers in the ask

Hills said Australia's social housing footprint "sits at around 4%, well below the OECD average, reflecting a shortage that has built up over decades."

NAHA's plan would set a pathway to lift social and affordable housing to at least 6% of housing stock by 2050. The alliance says that would require around 23,000 additional homes a year from 2030 to 2050, with a longer-term aspiration of 10%.

| NAHA target | Detail | | --- | --- | | Social housing today | Around 4% of stock, per NAHA | | 2050 target | At least 6% social and affordable housing | | Extra homes needed | Around 23,000 a year, 2030 to 2050 | | Longer-term aspiration | 10% | | Plan length | Minimum 20 years, through rolling five-year agreements |

The four priorities

NAHA has agreed on four shared priorities:

1. A long-term national housing supply plan. A minimum 20-year National Housing Supply Plan, delivered through rolling five-year agreements, with the 6% by 2050 pathway above.
2. Sustained Commonwealth leadership and investment. Long-term direct investment in social and affordable housing, keeping and continuously improving the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) and related programs, and policy and financing settings that attract more institutional and private investment.
3. A clearer definition of Affordable Housing. A nationally consistent definition focused on households in the lowest two income quintiles paying no more than 30% of gross household income, kept separate from key worker and other rental products that may also need subsidy.
4. Independent accountability. An independent Housing Outcomes Accountability Framework to publicly track social and affordable housing supply, unmet need, affordability and government delivery, backed by regular demand forecasting and housing-gap analysis.

What the builder groups said

"Australia's housing shortfall has been many years in the making, and it will take a long-term national commitment to turn it around," said HIA's Jocelyn Martin. "Industry stands ready to play its part, but we need a plan with the ambition, scale and certainty required to deliver more homes across the housing continuum and for all typologies."

Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said: "It's in everyone's interest to develop a new long-term national plan for social and affordable housing. The challenge and the market continues to evolve and so should our policy solutions. National leadership is necessary to find a new pathway to more affordable housing."

Property Council CEO Mike Zorbas said "the lion's share of future supply will have to be centrally funded".

For builders, Hills's point about certainty matters most. He said a 20-year approach "would give governments, industry and the community housing sector the certainty to plan, invest and build the workforce and delivery capacity needed to significantly increase supply."

Why it lands now

The call comes the day after HIA's Affordability Report showed housing affordability improved 3.6% in the September quarter but was still 5.4% worse than a year earlier. A household still needs 1.8 average incomes to comfortably service a mortgage on a median priced dwelling, HIA said. "Australia still has 11 million households chasing 10 million homes," HIA Senior Economist Tom Devitt said.

The wider supply gap hasn't closed either. Just over 308,000 homes were completed in the first seven quarters of the Housing Accord's 1.2 million five-year target, Australian Conveyancer reported on 6 October. Wawn said then: "we're going to fall about 260,000 homes short if we do not change policy settings".

Labour is the other constraint. Master Builders said on 15 October that the industry is short 141,000 skilled construction workers.

NAHA's platform is a set of proposals, not government policy. The Commonwealth hasn't committed to the 20-year plan or the 6% target.

Desk moves for builders

• Look at the community housing pipeline. If your business only builds for private buyers, find out which community housing providers are active in your area and what they're tendering for.
• Think about typology. Martin's call is for homes "across the housing continuum and for all typologies". Know which social and affordable housing products, such as townhouses, low-rise apartments or small lots, you can deliver at scale.
• Plan your workforce. With a 141,000-worker shortage, a 20-year pipeline is only useful if you have the trades to build it. Apprentices you take on now are part of that capacity.
• Watch the definition. A national Affordable Housing definition based on 30% of income for the lowest two income quintiles would shape which projects qualify for support. Track it if you build or tender for affordable housing.
• Talk to your association. HIA and Master Builders are both inside NAHA. Tell them what certainty your business needs to take on social and affordable housing work.

This article reports on industry announcements and published reporting. It is not legal, tax or financial advice.

Sources: HIA / NAHA, Major sectors unite behind long-term solution to Australia's housing crisis (29 October 2026); HIA, Brief window of improving housing affordability opens (28 October 2026); Australian Conveyancer, Long way to go to address housing shortfall (6 October 2026); Master Builders Australia, Unemployment up but building workforce remains tight (15 October 2026).