Housing supply
Victoria urgently needs more social and affordable housing. Our purpose-built homes add to supply and provide safe, appropriate housing for people experiencing homelessness.
In short
Despite unprecedented funding in Victoria for community housing through initiatives like the Big Housing Build, demand for social and community housing still far exceeds supply. Our programs and purpose-built homes add to Victoria’s housing stock and provide safe and appropriate homes to Victorians experiencing homelessness.
What's next
We need fit-for-purpose housing that reflects the real and diverse needs of people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. The way forward requires investment in housing that is both affordable and appropriate, alongside financial assistance and homelessness prevention programs that help keep people in their homes.
This year, our housing and support programs are helping people to stay housed and avoid homelessness. At the same time, our prevention efforts are making a tangible difference, especially for families and young people, who may be facing housing insecurity for the first time.
Despite our impact, our supports are stretched. There is a significant mismatch between what Victorians need and what the housing and homelessness system currently delivers.
This is why housing supply is a key focus area of our impact story.
Our purpose-built housing adds to Victoria’s housing stock and provides safe and appropriate homes for Victorians experiencing homelessness.
But much more is needed. We need fit-for-purpose housing that reflects the real and diverse needs of people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
We also know that increasing opportunities for people to access safe and affordable housing supports our journey toward systems that are better aligned with Housing First principles, where housing is the foundation for recovery, stability, and dignity.
People: The human cost of housing insecurity
The system is increasingly supporting people who are precariously housed for the first time, with rising rents, stagnant incomes, and limited affordable housing driving widespread housing insecurity. Those most affected include families, young people, single parents, and migrants.
Across metropolitan Melbourne, only two rental properties were affordable and suitable for a single parent with two children on Parenting Payments. For the same family type earning the minimum wage, just 1.8% of listings were affordable.1
The shortage of social housing in Victoria is stark. There are now more than 65,000 people waiting for social housing in Victoria, according to the latest quarterly data from Homes Victoria.2
Social housing makes up just 2.9% of dwellings in Victoria.3 Wait times are long and getting longer, with average waits of 20 months for social housing.4 Our estimates suggest that the wait time is significantly longer for families that need 3+ bedroom homes, disproportionately impacting larger families and cultures that live in multigenerational configurations.
Community housing providers like Launch Housing are part of the community response to the human cost of housing insecurity
Over the last five years, we have seen the toll every day in our services. Homelessness prevention programs like the Private Rental Assistance Program (PRAP) are seeing consistently high demand. The team received 8,030 client contacts this year but were able to provide financial assistance to just 28% or 2,218 people, showing the huge gap between need and available resources. Looking ahead, community housing providers will receive $1.38 billion to develop 4,200 of the new social housing homes and manage 4,000 more that will be built on government land or be spot purchased by the government through the Social Housing Growth Fund.
Systems: Housing demand is outstripping supply
Despite unprecedented funding through initiatives like the Big Housing Build, demand for social housing still far exceeds supply. Victoria is not just short on housing; it is struggling to deliver the right mix of housing that meets people’s needs.
This highlights not just the scale of Victoria’s housing crisis, but the mismatch between what Victorians need and what the system currently delivers. It makes the case for shifting away from ‘quantity only’ housing to fit-for-purpose models that meet families’ and individuals’ real and urgent needs. These models will look different for different cohorts and can include:
- Suitable number of bedrooms for families and multigenerational households
- Energy efficient housing for a changing climate in a cost-of-living crisis
- Safety and security measures for family violence cohorts
- Living spaces for multigenerational living, as well as kitchens and laundries for First Nations and culturally and racially marginalised cohorts that experience periodic influx of family
- Spaces that incorporate natural elements to provide a trauma-informed space
- Homes for single parents allowing for passive surveillance of children
Our programs and purpose-built homes add to Victoria’s housing stock and provide safe and appropriate homes to Victorians experiencing homelessness.
Successful programs and purpose-built homes such as the Bellfield development and Viv’s Place show what is possible. Through a collaboration between Banyule City Council and Launch Housing, 58 new homes were built in Bellfield, co-located with community facilities to strengthen connection and inclusion. Viv’s Place, which was designed specifically for women escaping violence, demonstrates that fit-for-purpose housing models can deliver strong outcomes.
Over the last five years, HomeGround Real Estate, which is a social enterprise agency, has expanded affordable housing options for Melburnians. Around 50% of HomeGround Real Estate properties are offered below market rate, helping families and individuals on low incomes to remain housed. HomeGround Real Estate not only adds to the supply of affordable housing but is structured to generate surpluses that are reinvested into our homelessness response programs, creating a model where every tenancy supports both renters and the broader community.
Advocacy: Boosting supply and diversity of housing stock
We need fit-for-purpose housing models that reflect the real and diverse needs of people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
Social housing should be treated as essential infrastructure, not just a cost line in government budgets. The way forward requires investment in housing that is both affordable and fit-for-purpose, alongside prevention programs like the Private Rental Assistance Program that help keep people in their homes.
To boost housing supply and diversity of housing stock, we need to:
- Unlock all policy levers. Combine planning reform, government investment, and greater use of government land to deliver the right mix of housing.
- Reform funding models. Ensure funding is available to support single adults, and family-appropriate and culturally safe housing, not just high-yield developments.
- Invest in prevention. Boost the Private Rental Assistance Program and income support to keep people in their homes and reduce pressure on crisis services.
Footnotes
- Anglicare Victoria. (2025). Victorian Rental Affordability Snapshot 2025.
- Council to Homeless Persons. (2025). Social housing waitlist increases again, now topping 65,000.
- Council to Homeless Persons. (2025). Victoria’s last-place ranking on social housing demands answers.
- Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH). (2024). Annual Report 2023–24. Victorian Government.
