National Housing Infrastructure Facility Social and Affordable Housing (NHIF SAH)

The NHIF SAH provides finance to build new social and affordable housing supply in our communities. 

    Contact NHFIC

    The National Housing Infrastructure Facility (NHIF) is a $1 billion facility that provides financing for: 

    1. Eligible housing enabling critical infrastructure projects that will unlock new housing supply, particularly social and affordable housing 
    2. From 23 November 2022, new social or affordable housing.  

    The NHIF offers concessional loans, grants and, in certain limited cases for housing enabling infrastructure projects, equity finance to help support critical housing-enabling infrastructure.  

    To be eligible for financing, an applicant must demonstrate that without NHFIC financing, the project would be unlikely to proceed, likely to proceed only at a much later date, or with a lesser impact on new social or affordable housing.  

    As part of the Federal Government’s 2022 budget commitments, the remit of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility (NHIF) has been widened, making up to $575 million available to invest in new social and affordable housing projects in addition to financing housing-enabling infrastructure. 

    The information on this page provides further details about NHIF Finance for social and affordable housing (NHIF SAH) and how to apply. 

    More information about the NHIF for housing enabling critical infrastructure (NHIF CI) is available here. 

    What can NHIF SAH finance be used for?

    NHIF SAH finance can be used for:

    Constructing new social and affordable housing stock
    Acquisition and conversion of housing stock to social and affordable housing
    Mixed tenure developments will also be considered subject to lending criteria

    How does it work? 

    Eligible applicants can apply for finance for NHIF SAH concessional loans and/or grants. In general, grants will only be provided with a loan as part of a blended financing arrangement. In exceptional circumstances, grants alone of up to $3 million will be considered.   

    Eligibility criteria 

    The following applicants may apply for finance through the NHIF SAH: 

    • Registered community housing providers  

    • State or territory governments or government-owned corporations  

    • Local governments or local-government owned corporations  

    • Incorporated special purpose vehicles that have at least one eligible foundation member (as above). 

     

    How to apply 

    1. Consider the NHIF SAH Guidelines 
    2. Download, complete and sign an EOI form. You can download a copy of the EOI form here
    3. Register for an account on the Online Application Portal here
    4. Submit a completed EOI form via the OAP. You can do this by clicking “Apply Now” after you have signed into the OAP
    5. NHFIC Origination team will contact you to discuss your EOI 
    6. Following assessment of your EOI by NHIFIC, you will be asked to submit a formal NHIF SAH application
    7. To submit a formal NHIF SAH application, sign into the OAP to download and complete a formal NHIF SAH application form
    8. Return to your NHIF SAH Application ID and submit your completed application via the OAP 
    9. NHFIC assesses the application and determines key financing terms and conditions 
    10. NHFIC will notify applicants of the outcome in writing.

    Need more information? 


    If you are interested in applying for NHIF SAH finance, NHFIC encourages applicants to read the NHIF SAH Guidelines first to find out more about the application process, terms and conditions. 

    For further questions contact NHFIC here.