Federal housing program to deliver 340 affordable homes on Gold Coast

Three Gold Coast developments totalling 340 affordable rental dwellings will be funded through the Housing Australia Future Fund, the federal government confirmed, targeting the Gold Coast's acute rental affordability crisis where median weekly rents for a two-bedroom apartment have increased by 31 per cent over three years.

The three projects, located at Southport, Nerang, and Coomera, will be developed and managed by community housing providers and offer rents at 80 per cent of market for households earning between $60,000 and $120,000 — the income range that falls above the public housing eligibility threshold but below the level that makes private rental affordable without severe cost burden.

Federal Housing Minister Julie Collins said the Gold Coast's rental market had been identified as one of the most stressed in Australia, with the combination of interstate migration, tourism accommodation converted to residential use, and strong demand from domestic retirees creating a supply shortage that was forcing lower-income workers to commute from Beenleigh or live in overcrowded conditions. "This city works because of hospitality workers, healthcare assistants, early childhood educators and tradespeople. They need to be able to afford to live here," she said.

The Southport project, the largest of the three, will deliver 150 dwellings across a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom configurations in a transit-oriented development within walking distance of the Gold Coast University Hospital and the light rail corridor. A childcare facility on the ground floor of the development was a condition of the planning approval.

Gold Coast City Council contributed the Southport site from its surplus property portfolio to reduce the project's land cost and allow the HAFF grant to deliver more dwellings.

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