New social housing to be delivered in innovative partnership

The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), together with the leading industry fund Cbus Super (Cbus), is pleased to support the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) in a leading-edge pilot program that will deliver new social and affordable housing for NSW.

The Community Housing Renewal Program (CHRP) will see LAHC partner with Community Housing Providers (CHPs) to deliver new social, affordable and private dwellings on selected LAHC-owned land under a long-term lease.

LAHC today opened an Expression of Interest (EOI) period for registered CHPs.

NHFIC and Cbus have been working together to offer registered CHPs the option to access low interest, long-term funding to take part in this program. The two organisations recently signed a joint letter to CHPs outlining a debt package available to participants in the EOI.

NHFIC CEO Nathan Dal Bon praised the innovative structure, which partnered NSW LAHC (a state government agency), NHFIC (a Commonwealth entity) and Cbus (an industry super fund for the building, construction, and allied industries) for the first time.

“Working collaboratively with the NSW state government on delivering this program – and leveraging our strong relationship with Cbus to provide financing – will support the further development of the community housing sector in NSW,” Mr Dal Bon said.

Linda Cunningham, Head of Debt and Alternatives at Cbus said the fund is proud to be working with NHFIC and the NSW Government on the next evolution of housing finance.

“This innovative model increases the amount of debt funding available to CHPs and has the potential to be scaled to allow hundreds of millions of additional capital to be invested into the housing sector,” Ms Cunningham said.

“This could be a gamechanger in addressing the financing gap for new social and affordable housing construction.”

The CHRP pilot program includes six shovel-ready sites in Sydney that will deliver 96 dwellings. A second tranche of sites is being prepared for release after the pilot which will include 300 new social, affordable and private dwellings in metropolitan and regional NSW.