Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hurley for her question. The Australian government’s $5.6 billion social housing program under the nation-building plan is on track and delivering much-needed homes for vulnerable people, such as people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Around 31,000 Australians will benefit from the Australian government’s investment in social housing under the stimulus plan.

The federal government initially committed to constructing a total of 17,460 dwellings. I am happy to report that we are exceeding our targets. The average price of an individual dwelling is about $272,000, well below the original target of $300,000. Because of that excellent value for money, we will build around 2,000 additional social housing dwellings for Australians in need.

Construction has commenced on 17,800 dwellings, and more than 5,100 dwellings have now been completed. With the high level of rainfall in the states, this is a good figure. Because of the rainfall we are experiencing, there will understandably be some delays in construction, but the states are overall delivering under the agreement. It is also good news for the regions, because four out of every 10 new social housing dwellings are being built in regional Australia.

With regard to repairs and maintenance, 12,000 dwellings that were uninhabitable have been repaired under the stimulus funding, further boosting social housing supply. Our initial target was 2,500 dwellings, so we have successfully surpassed that target in partnership with the states and territories. A total of more than 80,000 dwellings have benefited from repairs and maintenance which was completed in June this year, and that is a very good figure.