Housing Australia does not build houses and does not approve them. It finances them, which places it two removes from the thing being measured: a council grants consent, a provider builds, and Housing Australia is judged on the result.

The published position is stark. The Housing Australia Future Fund targets 40,000 new social and affordable homes. As at May 2026, 1,432 had been delivered — under 4 per cent — of which 762 were newly constructed by housing providers and 670 were built by private developers and purchased by a provider.

The Auditor-General reported critically on the program in July 2026, and the finding worth recording here is procedural rather than financial: funding applications opened in January 2024, and Treasury did not finalise most delivery and oversight arrangements until May 2026. The ANAO found that the delay limited Treasury's ability to systematically monitor and manage program risks and performance. The Minister accepted all recommendations.

Twenty-eight months of applications assessed and contracted before the governance for assessing and contracting them was settled. See Settle the governance before opening the funding round, not two years after.

Two cautions this database owes the reader. Under 4 per cent against a 2029 target is not the same as failure — social housing has a long lead time, and homes contracted but not yet complete do not appear in a delivered count. And none of the delay after contracting is Housing Australia's: it sits in planning consent, construction and the same approval chain every other apartment building passes through.