REPORT: Labor’s public housing build levels are lowest of any government since WWII

The Albanese Government is building the lowest rate of public housing of any government since World War II, a new report from The Green Institute has revealed.

In a sign of just how dramatically the government has withdrawn from the construction of housing, the Green Institute analysis shows that each successive year since Labor was elected in 2022 has marked a new record low for social housing as a proportion of total housing stock.

The report was presented today by Max Chandler-Mather, the Executive Director of the Green Institute, and former Greens housing spokesperson, in a hearing for a Senate inquiry into Intergenerational Housing Inequity held in Brisbane.

At the high point in Australia post-WWII, 18% of all homes built each year were built by the government in public housing, responsible for the fastest increase in home ownership rates for Australians between 1945 and the 1970s. Today, just 2% of all housing built in Australia is public housing, based on 2025 figures.

Under questioning by Senators, Chandler-Mather argued that house prices and rents must come down, and to do so the government must re-establish its capacity to directly build affordable housing by establishing a public property developer to build 360,000 rent and price-capped homes over the next five years.

The Green Institute report also calls for a two year freeze on rent increases and re-regulation of the banking sector to restrict lending to property investors.

The government’s own State of the Housing System 2026 report earlier this year found that Australia was experiencing all-time lows in rental affordability and home purchase affordability, as well as all-time high rental stress.

Attributable to Max Chandler-Mather, Executive Director of The Green Institute:

Taken from oral evidence presented to the Senate inquiry into Intergenerational Housing Equity (available 10:46-11:26 here):

“The current government is breaking all the wrong records. As of this year, this current government has the lowest average rate of public housing construction of any government since World War II.”

“This federal government is continuing this decades long failed housing policy.”

“A bipartisan consensus between both major parties has seen the housing system get turned from a system that did a reasonable job at providing genuinely affordable and quality housing to people, towards a system that treats housing entirely as a lucrative financial asset and a huge profit spinner for banks and property developers.”

“The only reason not to invest in public housing right now is to protect the housing system that makes money for banks and property developers.”

“The old federal Department of Housing and Construction Works […] used to literally employ thousands of trades workers, architects, town planners, and experts in construction. They were in fact at one point probably the largest housing construction authority in the country. There’s absolutely no reason why the federal government couldn’t coordinate with the states to retain or bring back that capacity.”

“What we know about private markets and essential services is banks and developers will act in a predatory way to maximise profits and push people into more housing misery as long as they can continue to make a profit. And it absolutely doesn’t need to be this way.”

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