Social Housing Growth Fund

Community housing organisations, also known as CHOs, provide social and affordable housing to eligible Victorians.

Working with community housing organisations helps us deliver housing where it’s needed. A partnership approach means our projects benefit from their experience and knowledge. This includes designing and building the homes, as well as managing and supporting renters once they’ve moved in.

Social housing built with this funding will deliver more homes for Victorians. You can learn more about applying to social housing at Victorian Housing Register.

The Homes Victoria led Big Housing Build program is a $5.3 billion investment in social, affordable and market housing. This program aims to deliver 12,000 new homes. This investment includes $1.38 billion towards the Social Housing Growth Fund to grow the supply of social housing across Victoria.

The Social Housing Growth Fund is the joint responsibility of the Minister for Housing and the Treasurer. The Fund is managed by Homes Victoria and the Department of Treasury and Finance.

Social housing is rental housing that is available to people who face challenges in securing safe housing that meets their needs through the private market. This includes:

• adults and children escaping family violence
• older women
• Aboriginal Victorians
• people with disabilities
• people experiencing mental illness
• people on low incomes

When social housing is managed by the state government it is called public housing. When social housing is managed by not-for-profit organisations known as community housing organisations, it is called community housing.

Like public housing, you can apply for community housing through the Victorian Housing Register.

All renters in Victoria, including social housing renters and private market renters, have the same rights and are protected under the Residential Tenancies Act (1997). This includes rules for rental agreements, rent setting, maintenance, and dispute resolution. You can read more about your rights as a renter in Renting - Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Social housing rents are capped at between 25 and 30 per cent of a household's income. This means that renters don’t have to worry about rent increases they can’t afford.

New community housing homes are built to be accessible to all Victorians and meet a variety of housing needs. This includes physical features like the size of doorways and the bathroom layout.

Community housing organisations provide additional support to empower renters to live independently in a fit-for-purpose home. These programs can range from community events in common spaces to targeted supports like mental health supported housing.

The Social Housing Growth Fund provides financial support to the community housing sector. This includes $1.38 billion of Big Housing Build funding, and $1 billion of earlier funding. It funds projects to provide homes to Victorians on the Victorian Housing Register. 

• Funding includes $1.38 billion (Big Housing Build) and $1 billion (Pre-BHB)
• Over 175 projects
• Over 3,900 homes
• 27 community housing organisations

*as of November 2023