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Social & Affordable Housing
Ten billion dollars committed. Thirty-eight thousand homes still not built.
Community housing providers hold the funding and need builders who can evidence they will finish. That is a very different submission from a lowest-price tender, and most contractors write the wrong one.
1,000+
Tender submissions lodged
$1B+
Contract value pursued
100%
Client retention
20+ yrs
QS & bid management
The pipeline
Ten billion dollars committed. Thirty-eight thousand homes still not built.
The Housing Australia Future Fund is a $10 billion commitment targeting 40,000 social and affordable homes over five years from 2024. Round 3 opened on 30 January 2026 to fund the remaining 21,350 homes. To date 279 contracts have been committed, supporting 18,650 homes, with 9,501 under construction.
Here's the uncomfortable part: only 1,432 homes had actually been delivered as of May 2026. The money is not the constraint and neither is the process, HAFF is explicitly non-competitive and open, with applicants able to submit at any time while funding remains. The constraint is delivery capability. Community housing providers hold funding and need builders who can evidence they will finish. That is a very different submission from a lowest-price tender, and most contractors write the wrong one.
Sub-sectors
What we deliver in each
01
HAFF & community housing delivery
Submissions to community housing providers and their development partners, written to evidence delivery certainty rather than the sharpest rate.
02
Modular & volumetric
Offsite and volumetric delivery, where the programme argument is the whole bid and the risk questions are about factory capacity, transport and tolerance.
03
Renewal & upgrade programs
Occupied-site renewal, staged decant, tenant liaison and works around residents who cannot be relocated. Scored heavily and usually under-answered.
04
Mixed-tenure developments
Projects blending social, affordable and market housing, with different funders, different reporting and different obligations on the same site.
05
Compliance & social procurement
Local employment, Indigenous participation, apprentice ratios and reporting obligations that are conditions of funding, not aspirations.
How we win housing tenders
Six strategies, none of them "be the cheapest"
Strategy 01
Write to delivery certainty, not price
The provider's risk is a project that does not finish. Programme, resourcing, financial capacity and track record carry more weight here than the rate.
Strategy 02
Approach providers before the funding round closes
HAFF is open and non-competitive. Providers with funding and no builder are the opportunity, and they are found by approach, not by tender portal.
Strategy 03
Occupied-site methodology
Staged decant, tenant liaison, noise, access and safety around residents. This is the section that separates a housing builder from a general builder.
Strategy 04
Social procurement written as evidence
Local employment, Indigenous participation and apprentice commitments with numbers, named partners and a reporting method. Commitments without measurement score nothing.
Strategy 05
Financial capacity presented properly
Providers assess whether you will still be trading at practical completion. We present capacity, bonding and referees in the form that answers that question.
Strategy 06
Repeatability
Providers deliver programmes, not one-off projects. We position you as a partner for the pipeline rather than a bidder for a single site.
The VXS evaluation lens
How housing submissions are assessed, and where they fail
Critical sections in every housing submission
- Delivery programme with evidenced resourcing and realistic completion
- Occupied-site methodology, staged decant, tenant liaison and safety
- Financial capacity, bonding and the evidence you will still be there at completion
- Social procurement commitments with numbers, named partners and reporting
- Quality and defects management on repeatable dwelling types
- Track record on comparable scale and tenure
Where housing submissions fail
- Written as a lowest-price tender when the provider is buying certainty
- No method for working around residents who are not moving out
- Social procurement as a statement of support with no measurable commitment
- Financial capacity left to the referees to imply
- Treating a programme of homes as a single construction project
Related sectors
Bidding social or affordable housing work?
Send us the brief. Go / no-go within 24 hours, and a straight answer on whether your submission evidences delivery certainty or just a price.