Four Corners: Empty Promises for Disability Housing

More than $100 million has vanished in a financial scandal at the heart of the federal government's disability housing program. 

One enterprise lured in more than 500 Australians with the promise of glittering high returns and social good, only to be exposed as one of the country's most audacious investment scams.  

Investors were told their money would help tackle the disability housing crisis while earning government backed, fixed returns. Instead, $78 million is alleged to have disappeared into a web of failed projects, luxury cars, gambling sprees and offshore ventures. 

This week on Four Corners, reporter Jessica Longbottom reveals the cracks in the governance of Australia's disability housing market and exposes systemic regulatory failure. 

The government's Specialist Disability Accommodation program, part of the NDIS, was meant to transform lives, but it was handed to a poorly regulated private sector. 

Four Corners investigates how the program, marketed as an ethical investment, has turned into a feeding ground for property sharks and led to streets of vacant homes across the country. 

The program asks: is this once in a generation opportunity at risk of collapse amid fraud, waste and shattered trust? 

Empty Promises reported by Jessica Longbottom and produced by Lesley Robinson goes to air on Monday 25 August at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview. See more at abc.net.au/news and on ABC News social media platforms.   

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