EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by authority of the Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities
Housing Australia Act 2018
Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (2025 Measures No. 4) Direction 2025
Subsection 12(1) of the Housing Australia Act 2018 (Act) provides that the Minister may, by legislative instrument, give the Board of Housing Australia directions about the performance of Housing Australia’s functions. The Board is subject to the requirements of the Act, the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Direction 2018 (Investment Mandate), the Help to Buy Act 2024 (HTB Act) and the Help to Buy Program Directions 2025.
The Act established Housing Australia to improve housing outcomes for Australians. Housing Australia (previously, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation) commenced operation on 30 June 2018. It is a corporate Commonwealth entity in the Treasury portfolio and is governed by an independent board.
Housing Australia improves housing outcomes for Australians through its financing, guarantee, and capacity building functions. Housing Australia operates the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility (HAFFF), the National Housing Accord Facility (NHAF), the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator and the National Housing Infrastructure Facility as part of its financing function. Housing Australia provides support for capacity building of eligible registered community housing providers (CHPs) through its capacity building function and administers the Home Guarantee Scheme (now administered by Housing Australia as the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme) as part of its guarantee function. Housing Australia has other functions conferred by legislation, such as Help to Buy functions under the HTB Act.
Established on 8 December 2023, the HAFFF and the NHAF are mechanisms by which Housing Australia administers the Government’s commitment to support the delivery of 40,000 new social and affordable dwellings. These dwellings are delivered under two programs – the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) and the National Housing Accord (Accord).
The purpose of the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (2025 Measures No. 4) Direction 2025 (Instrument) is to amend the Investment Mandate to support the operation of the HAFFF. Specifically, the Instrument sets a limit on the quantum of HAFFF upfront grants for the 2025-26 financial year.
This amendment is intended to facilitate Housing Australia making ‘HAFFF upfront grants’ in the 2025-26 financial year by revising the limit from $0 to be any unused amounts from the annual limit for the 2024-25 financial year, which was $388 million. A HAFFF upfront grant is defined in paragraph 28N(4)(b) to be a one-off grant to finance a HAFFF project that increases available social housing. The limit on making available HAFFF upfront grants in financial years subsequent to 2025-26 is $0. This amendment is consistent with the practice of increasing the monetary thresholds set in section 28N, including HAFF upfront grants, from time to time (typically, subsequent financial years), as explained in the note under subsection 28N(1).
The Act does not specify any conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Instrument may be exercised.
No public consultation was undertaken on the Instrument as the amendments are targeted and machinery in nature. Housing Australia was consulted in the development of the Instrument.
The Instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (the Legislation Act). As a direction made by a Minister to a person or body, the Instrument is exempt from sunsetting and from disallowance. The sunsetting exemption is pursuant to paragraph 54(2)(b) of the Legislation Act and item 3 of the table in section 11 of the Legislation (Exemptions and Other Matters) Regulation 2015 (the Legislation Exemptions Regulation). The disallowance exemption is pursuant to section 42 of the Act and item 2 of the table in section 9 of the Legislation Exemptions Regulation. Accordingly, no statement of compatibility with human rights is required under subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
The Instrument is subject to the automatic repeal process under section 48A of the Legislation Act. This section provides that where a legislative instrument only repeals or amends another instrument, without making any application, saving or transitional provisions relating to the amendment or repeal, that instrument is automatically repealed. By virtue of subparagraph 48A(2)(a)(i), the Instrument is automatically repealed on the day after the commencement of the Instrument which results in the amendment of the Investment Mandate.
The Instrument commenced on the day after registration.
Details of the Instrument are set out in Attachment A.
ATTACHMENT A
Details of the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (2025 Measures No. 4) Direction 2025
Section 1 – Name
This section provides that the name of the instrument is the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (2025 Measures No. 4) Direction 2025 (the Instrument).
Section 2 – Commencement
This section provides that the Instrument commenced on the day after registration.
Section 3 – Authority
This section provides that the Instrument is made under the Housing Australia Act 2018 (the Act).
Section 4 – Schedule
This section provides that each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule, and any other item in the Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1 – HAFFF upfront grants
Setting the limit for HAFFF upfront grants in the 2025-26 financial year
Section 28N sets limits on making loans and grants under the HAFFF. There are two types of grants that can be issued under the HAFFF – HAFFF availability payments and HAFFF upfront grants. Paragraph 28N(4)(a) provides for the meaning of a HAFFF availability payment, while paragraph 28N(4)(b) provides for the meaning of a HAFFF upfront grant. A HAFFF upfront grant is a one-off grant to finance a HAFFF project that increases available social housing.
Subsection 28N(6) provides for the annual limit for the sum of all HAFFF upfront grants. The Instrument amends the Investment Mandate to update the annual limits. Specifically, item 3 repeals paragraph 28N(6)(b) and substitutes new paragraphs 28N(6)(b) and (c).
Paragraph 28N(6)(b) now provides that the annual limit for the 2025-26 financial year is the unused amount from the annual limit for the 2024-25 financial year.
Paragraph 28N(6)(c) provides that the annual limit for each financial year after the 2025‑26 financial year is $0. This allows the monetary thresholds in section 28N to be increased from time to time (typically, subsequent financial years), as explained in the Note to subsection 28N(1). This means that the Minister may increase the limit on HAFFF upfront grants.