The National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS)’s looming closure is prompting calls for even greater federal funding for more affordable homes.
The call came from Everybody’s Home, a national campaign launched in 2018 by a coalition of housing, homelessness and welfare organisations; more than 500 organisations and 43,000 individuals are involved with it.
The NRAS was designed to provide affordable rentals to low and middle income earners but has been winding down since 2018 and is set to end this June.
Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize says: “The number of social and affordable homes the federal government plans to build in the next few years is barely replacing what’s already been lost.
“Affordable rentals are vanishing faster than social housing is being built, leaving tens of thousands of households worse off.
“This year we will see another 4500 affordable homes come offline, which means more families facing the brutal and expensive unsubsidised private rental market,” Azize says.
“This means more Australians are at risk of plunging into housing stress, homelessness and financial insecurity.”
“For people living in these rentals, this isn’t an abstract policy. We’re hearing from people genuinely afraid they’ll have nowhere to turn when the scheme ends,” Azize says.
“Australia already has a social housing shortfall of 640,000 homes and demand is only growing. Losing thousands more affordable rentals only further deepens the crisis.
“A key affordable rental scheme is ending, rents are rising and there’s nowhere to move – 2026 must be the year the Albanese Government finally funds social housing at scale.”
According to the campaign, NSW will lose the most homes from the NRAS this year with 2008, followed by 1550 in Western Australia and 596 in Tasmania; a total of 4591 homes will leave the scheme this year.
RENTAL REPLACEMENTS
The campaign says the latest federal figures reveal more than 4500 homes will leave the NRAS this year; the final lot of 36,000-plus homes phased out of the scheme in 10 years.
NRAS rentals are to be replaced by 40,000 homes to be built under the federal Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).
Housing Australia says that as of November 2025, 889 HAFF homes have been built with another 9501 under construction.
It will open a third round of the HA Future Fund Facility (HAFFF) and National Housing Accord Facility (NHAF) later this month to attract investment to fund the remaining 21,350 affordable homes by 2029 in its national target.
MORE RENTAL NEWS: Record low vacancy rates across capital cities
