NHFIC gives update on Housing Australia Future Fund

Representatives from the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) headed to Perth to deliver an update on the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) and the opportunities it could provide to Community Housing Organisations (CHOs).

While the $10 billion housing bill is still yet to pass through the Senate, NHFIC CEO Nathan Dal Bon spoke about planned program delivery and responded to several questions directly asked by CHO representatives from across WA who joined online.

“Part of the reason why I am here today … is that we’ve been taking soundings in terms of multiple stakeholders,” Mr Dal Bon said.

“Talking to Community Housing Providers, talking to private sector interests – developers, builders – talking to the states, talking to local governments because all of these parties are essentially critical stakeholders to deliver on the governments objectives. This is all part of the process, we are looking for projects but we are also engaged in a socialisation process so we can get the feedback from various stakeholders so we can make this work from all perspectives.”

Eligibility and Evaluation

In his presentation Mr Dal Bon walked through some aspects of the Eligibility and Evaluation criteria.

“We are looking at doing a housing needs analysis. We want to have properties built where they are needed. It is also important to have properties built near supporting infrastructure and amenity so people still feel engaged when it comes to broader community … and other necessary supports. They have a property but they also have the necessary support and amenity.

“Spot purchases is certainly another objective.”

“We are trying to get some sort of geographic distribution. So across jurisdictions but also within jurisdictions. For a jurisdiction like WA obviously there is a very large community, spread across a very large area and we are looking at target groups in terms of victims of domestic violence and Aboriginal community. So we are looking at a whole range of factors in terms of how we can prioritise projects but certainly from a government point of view and the NHFIC point of view there is the objective to try and get that appropriate spread across different cohorts and geographic areas.

“Spot purchases is certainly another objective. Where appropriate it is certainly something we would consider. And I am told that Perth is certainly an opportunity.”

Watch the full presentation here

Next Steps

In terms of what is playing out in the Senate, Mr Dal Bon says the work continues.

“Those matters are outside of my control. We are continuing to have that socialisation process and continue the preparatory work that we’ve been focusing on for the last several months.”

Further Information

Find out more about NHFIC and the HAFF.

| Given the preparatory nature of NHFIC’s work on the HAFF, they have requested that the slide deck is not circulated.