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The federal government is providing an additional $500 million in low-cost financing to support 2,500 more social and affordable houses for vulnerable Australians.
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that the government is increasing the liability cap of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) by $500 million to help bring online more affordable housing.
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The NHFIC provides finance, grants or investments that support government activities that relate to housing, such as the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator and the $1 billion National Housing Infrastructure Facility.
It also manages and administers the popular First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (FHLDS), Family Home Guarantee and New Home Guarantee.
Given the increased commitment from government, the NHFIC’s liability cap will therefore rise from $3 billion to $3.5 billion.
Speaking of the move while visiting Terrigal, NSW, Prime Minister Scott Morrison noted that the corporation had already supported 14,000 homes through low-cost loans to Community Housing Providers (CHPs) and would ensure that the pipeline of housing development would be able to continue, while “providing the time and confidence needed to attract private investment”.
He added that the boost to social and affordable housing would support 2,500 social and affordable dwellings.
“We are proud of our record of supporting Australians into home ownership, and we are also focused on getting those vulnerable Australians into social and affordable housing,” the Prime Minister said.
Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing, Homelessness, Social and Community Housing Michael Sukkar added: “[The] NHFIC is dedicated to improving housing outcomes across the housing spectrum.
“In addition to unlocking more than 6,700 social, affordable and market dwellings through the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, more than 60,000 Australians have begun their journey towards home ownership through the support of the NHFIC operated Home Guarantee Scheme.”
Noting the announcement, the NHFIC said it “welcome[d] the government's additional support to deliver social and affordable housing”.
Member for Robertson, Lucy Wicks, added the increase in support for CHPs would particularly help women in the Central Coast region, by providing low-cost financing to CHPs such as Pacific Link Housing, that has received more than $11 million in financing from the NHFIC.
The additional $500 million in low-cost financing has come in response to the Statutory Review of the Operation of the NHFIC, which made a number of recommendations aimed at building and enhancing the role that NHFIC is playing in improving housing outcomes.
It included recommendations for the NHFIC to be given an explicit mandate to ‘crowd in’ other financiers to catalyse the delivery of social and affordable housing on a greater scale, which the government said it would do by amending NHFIC’s Investment Mandate.
[Related: Government to reissue unused first home buyer grants]
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