The Greens will vote for Labor's Help to Buy and Build to Rent housing bills, ending a lengthy stand-off and handing the government a victory on key elements of its housing agenda.
The bills, which would allow up to 40,000 first home buyers to co-purchase homes with the government and offer a tax incentive for apartment complexes designed for renters, now have the numbers to pass the Senate without significant amendments.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said his party had "pushed as hard as it could" for Labor to go further on the housing crisis, but would ultimately not stand in its way.
"We will wave through Labor's housing bills … but this issue is not going away," he said.
Housing Minister Clare O'Neil said she was "glad the Greens have seen the light" but added that "delay is costly".
"This doesn't excuse the fact that they have played politics on housing for two-and-a-half years."
Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather, who proposed the compromise to the Greens party room, said he had decided to "give Labor the benefit of the doubt … I think our job here in parliament is to find compromises".
But he did not apologise for the party's decision to delay the bills for months, accusing the government of "tinkering around the edges of this housing crisis".
"At the end of the day, if the government doesn't care about [renters] then it's up to them, but you can't accuse us of not trying," he said.
The Greens had originally issued a lengthy wishlist in exchange for passage of the bills, including changes to negative gearing, rent caps and more money for social housing.
In the last fortnight, they honed in on the latter, asking Labor to up the number of projects supported by its social housing fund.
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The government rejected the offer, saying it was neither practical nor consistent with relevant legislation, a response a Greens spokesperson dismissed on Monday as "disingenuous".
But Greens sources told the ABC they had concluded the government was not interested in negotiating after they were unable to secure a meeting over the weekend.
Ms O'Neil said the government had always been open to negotiating "in good faith" and had done so with other crossbenchers, but said the Greens' posturing was "relentless politicking" because their amendments did not relate to the substance of either of the bills.
"They will now pass in exactly the form in which they were proposed … after a lengthy delay," she said.
"The Greens need to be accountable for that."
In an interview on the ABC's 7.30, Ms O'Neil said she was "surprised" by the Greens' shift and accused them of forgetting "that there are real people at the end of their politicking".
"We would have had 10,000 nurses and aged care workers in home ownership right now, but for the behaviour of the Greens," she said.
"The net effect of their presence in this parliament has been to delay action on social and affordable housing, to delay home ownership and to result in more homelessness."
A Greens spokesperson noted the bill had not been introduced for debate in the Senate until September, and suggested the government could allocate the scheme's 40,000 places over three years instead of four if it was concerned about the delay.
Win for government as it churns through lengthy agenda
The resolution means Labor will pass the Help to Buy bill on its second attempt, after it failed to pass the Senate earlier this year. The Build to Rent has also been subject to lengthy delays.
It is the first major breakthrough in a week that could decide the fate of dozens of government bills before the parliament, in what is the final sitting for the year and perhaps the term, if an election is held any time between now and March.
Aged care funding was rubber-stamped by the lower house on Monday after it passed the Senate last week.
Changes to HECS indexation and school funding and a pay increase for childcare workers are among the items to be considered in a late-night Senate sitting on Tuesday.
Other items on the agenda for the week include a social media ban for children, new rules for election donations, an extension of TAFE subsidies and tax credits for critical minerals.
Mr Bandt said the Greens saw "a strong case" for the critical minerals support but that his party had not finalised its position.
