Emotional plea to pass social, affordable housing fund

An emotional plea has been issued to strip the politics out of efforts to establish a national housing fund to kickstart the building of new social and affordable homes. 

Crossbench senator Jacqui Lambie was on the verge of tears as she implored the Greens to use their balance of power to vote through the government's $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. 

The Tasmanian senator and her colleague secured a guarantee of 1200 homes for every state and territory but the Greens continue to hold out for more immediate investment and a national rent freeze.

"We are falling behind because for every one we build, we've got nearly bloody 50 more on that waiting list," she told the chamber on Thursday.

"Let's get the program started so we can get moving, so we don't have as many (homeless) people out there, especially our children, that next generation.

"I don't want to see them starting their lives while living in a tent. We cannot hold this up another day."

Senator Lambie said she knew it would take time to get the materials and labour to build the homes and while it wasn't perfect, "people out there need a roof over their heads".

Drawing on her own experience, she said her mother would have been "absolutely paralysed" if the family was forced to live in a tent instead of having that safety net of social housing they moved into instead.

"Do you really want to keep playing with people's lives?" she posited towards the Greens in the chamber.

The government and the Greens remain in a stand-off, with repeated moves by Labor to force the fund to a vote in the Senate failing. 

The interest from the $10 billion fund, up to $500 million a year, will go towards 30,000 new social and affordable houses over five years.

Senior minister Penny Wong accused the minor party of playing politics and pulling media stunts by opposing a fund that would help homeless people and those fleeing domestic violence. 

But the Greens have hit back, saying the fund doesn't guarantee any money towards social housing if it makes a loss in a given year and the legislation does nothing for renters.

Independent senator David Pocock is pushing for amendments to the bill to include an ability to periodically increase the $500 million annual cap on disbursements from the fund, and indexation at 2.5 per cent each year. 

Senator Pocock said it made no sense for the government to have to change legislation every time the investment fund had a good year. 

But he has said he would not block the fund from passing.