Share this article
Bridge42 welcomes the recent announcement of Australian Government funding available, through the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility (HAFFF) and National Housing Accord Facility (NHAF), intended to collectively boost critical social and affordable housing development across the country.
The Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) and the National Housing Accord are Federal Government initiatives to improve housing outcomes for Australians, supporting the delivery of 20,000 new social and 20,000 new affordable homes over a five-year period from 2024.
These programs are administered by Housing Australia.
Housing Australia Future Fund Facility (HAFFF)
The HAFF is a $10 billion investment fund established by the Federal Government and administered by Housing Australia. It has been established to create a secure, ongoing pipeline of funding for social and affordable rental housing, including housing to support acute housing need.
The income generated by the HAFF will provide disbursements used to deliver 20,000 new social and 10,000 new affordable homes over five years from 2024 under the HAFFF, the mechanism to support the delivery of these 30,000 homes.
National Housing Accord Facility (NHAF)
Under the National Housing Accord, the Federal Government has committed to delivering 10,000 new affordable homes over five years from 2024.
The NHAF is the instrument through which Housing Australia will support the delivery of affordable homes via financing under the National Housing Accord.
Eligible Applicants
Entities eligible to apply for funding include:
- Registered charities, where they are either registered community housing providers (CHPs); or have a primary purpose of providing housing to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, or to current / former members of the Australian Defence Force.
- State and Territory Governments and Local Governments, including government-owned corporations.
- Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), whose purpose is to increase social and / or affordable housing, where at least one member is an entity mentioned above.
Funding Round One Applications and Eligible Projects
Housing Australia is now seeking applications for financing Funding Round One, open from 15 January until 22 March 2024.
Eligible housing projects must deliver social and / or affordable housing. Projects can include the construction or purchase of new homes, the renovation of existing residential dwellings that were otherwise uninhabitable, or the conversion of non-residential properties to residential dwellings.
To be eligible in the First Funding Round, projects must have:
- commenced construction;
- completed construction; or
- will be ready to commence construction within 18 months after Contract Close.
Over the five-year program rollout, it is anticipated that there will be multiple HAFFF and NHAF funding rounds. Applicants who are unsuccessful or do not participate in Funding Round One are encouraged to participate in future potential funding rounds.
Bridge42 Comments
Daniel Miller, Director, said:
“Bridge42 has been involved in helping to plan and deliver new social, affordable and inclusive housing developments across Australia for many years.
“Through our work with various clients, we have a unique insight into the critical challenges of housing supply and affordability in Australia.
“The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation’s State of the Nation’s Housing 2022-23 report estimated that, conservatively, around 377,600 households are in housing need, comprising 331,000 households in rental stress and 46,500 households experiencing homelessness.
“Slowing supply, together with increasing household formation is expected to lead to a supply household formation balance of ~106,300 dwellings (cumulative) over the five years to 2027 (and ~79,300 dwellings over the projection period 2023 to 2033).
“Clearly, the provision of more housing is needed to meet projected housing demand, as well as to alleviate affordability challenges in the Australian housing market.
“Collaboration between governments, not-for-profit organisations and the private sector will be essential to delivering the levels of new housing required to meet current and future needs.
“The Bridge42 team brings strong expertise in the planning and delivery of diverse accommodation solutions through a range of different funding and delivery models.
“Our national experience across the residential sector includes community housing, specialist disability accommodation, key worker and student accommodation, and retirement and aged care facilities through to apartments, hotels and mixed-use developments.
“We would welcome opportunities to work with governments, community housing providers and developers in the delivery of well-located, high-quality housing solutions to contribute to addressing the nation’s critical housing needs.”
