Our reading: False. The Albanese government is not building free new homes for Muslims. There is no federal or state housing program that allocates dwellings by religion. Social housing is a tenancy with rent, not a freehold gift. First-home schemes require a deposit and a mortgage. A Muslim household can apply on the same tests as anyone else. That is not a Muslim housing project.
The claim in the wild
A Facebook Page post from Raiza Helision is at facebook.com/share/p/18xibci2KU. Facebook labels it AI content.
The graphic shows a man resembling the Prime Minister shaking hands with a family in Islamic dress in front of new houses. Overlay text: “Labor Government Is building FREE new homes for Muslims in Australia. Do you support this project?” with YES / NO buttons. The caption repeats that sentence as a circulating “discussion,” asks “What is your opinion on this?”, and tells people to vote YES or NO in the comments. Hashtags include #AusPol #LaborGovernment #HousingAustralia.
There is no cited bill, budget line, Housing Australia page, or media release. The caption’s job is to make a rumour look like a live policy question.
What official housing policy actually is
Australian social housing is run mainly by the states and territories, with Commonwealth funding. Published eligibility is identity, Australian citizenship or permanent residency, living in that state, income and asset limits, and housing need. Religion is not a criterion. Western Australia’s public housing eligibility policy says help is provided “regardless of the age, gender, marital status, race, religion, disability or life situation of the applicant.” NSW and the other jurisdictions list the same kind of tests: identity, residency, citizenship or permanent residency, income, assets, ability to sustain a tenancy. None of them say “Muslim.”
Those homes are not free. Queensland’s Public Housing Rent Policy is typical: “Tenants living in public housing must pay rent,” usually 25% of assessable household income or market rent, whichever is less. Victoria and Western Australia use the same 25% rule. A tenancy with subsidised rent is not a free house with the keys handed over.
The Commonwealth’s big supply program is the Housing Australia Future Fund: loans and grants for 20,000 social and 20,000 affordable homes over five years from 2024. Eligible funding recipients published for Round 3 are community housing providers; charities whose primary purpose is housing for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people; charities whose primary purpose is housing for current or former ADF members; and state, territory and local governments. There is no Muslim stream, no religion stream, and no “free homes” product. Social and affordable dwellings from that fund are still rented on eligibility, not given away by faith.
First-home support is a loan, not a gift. The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme is for Australian citizens and permanent residents. You still save a deposit (generally 5%, or 2% for eligible single parents) and take a home loan. Help to Buy is a shared-equity scheme for eligible Australian citizens aged 18 or over: a deposit of at least 2%, plus the buyer’s own mortgage. Religion is not in the rules. Housing Australia has already told AAP FactCheck it “does not implement or administer any Australian Government programs that are restricted to immigrants or non‑citizens.”
Federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975 s 12 makes it unlawful to refuse or limit housing because of race, colour, or national or ethnic origin. State and territory anti-discrimination laws cover religion in accommodation. A government program that built homes only for Muslims would run into those rules. We found no such program to run into them.
What is true
Labor is funding more social and affordable rentals and first-home buyer support. Some applicants will be Muslim, in the same way some will be Christian, Hindu, Jewish, or of no religion, if they meet the ordinary tests. That is not a project “for Muslims.” Related Facebook claims — that 100,000 homes are reserved for recently arrived immigrants, or that a major bank offers interest-free home loans only to Muslims — have already been rated false by AAP FactCheck. This graphic is the same family of bait: pick a hated out-group, put “FREE” in yellow, add YES/NO, harvest comments.
This check is of the housing claim. It is not a brief for or against Labor’s housing record, immigration levels, or anyone’s faith.
What to do
- Do not treat a YES/NO graphic as evidence of a program. If a housing claim is real, it has a Housing Australia, Treasury, or state housing page.
- Eligibility and how to apply: housingaustralia.gov.au and firsthomebuyers.gov.au, plus your state or territory housing department.
- Report the Facebook post as false information / spam.
Sources
- Facebook post: Raiza Helision, labelled AI content, share/p/18xibci2KU, screenshot 25 Oct 2026
- NSW: Eligibility for social housing
- WA Housing Authority eligibility policy: assistance “regardless of … religion”
- Queensland Public Housing Rent Policy; Victoria public housing rent; WA public housing rent
- Housing Australia Future Fund
- 5% Deposit Scheme FAQs; Treasury: Help to Buy / 5% Deposit Scheme; Help to Buy Program Directions 2025
- Racial Discrimination Act 1975 s 12
- AAP: exclusive immigrant housing scheme is false; AAP: interest-free Muslim home loans claim
This fact-check may be AI-assisted and can contain errors. Disclaimer.