Released 21/08/2018
Today I have announced the first three projects to be funded under the $1 million Affordable Housing Innovation Fund. The fund provides a valuable opportunity to seed housing models focused on increasing affordable housing options in the ACT.
In a highly competitive round, Community Housing Canberra Incorporated has received funding of $230,000 to establish a new affordable rental real estate management model, based on the approach of HomeGround.
Through this model, private landlords can rent their investment properties to households on lower incomes at below market rates, under the management of a registered community housing provider.
There has been a lot of interest across the ACT in exploring this approach to affordable housing―including recent interest in the Legislative Assembly―and the government is delivering on its commitment to establish this program.
Two successful co-housing projects are also receiving funding contributions―Environmental Collective Housing Organisation ($15,000) and Smart Urban Villages ($35,000). This is a fantastic opportunity to test innovative, sustainable design with shared use of common spaces or with collective ownership models, similar to the Nightingale model.
If the projects demonstrate the co-housing model can successfully deliver affordable housing, then they have potential to be repeated on different sites, at different scales.
I would like to thank all organisations who participated and I look forward to working with the successful applicants in exploring new ways we can provide Canberran’s access to affordable housing.
The second round of the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund will include a second call for a Home Sharing scheme as well as:
- Specialist Disability Accommodation Project
- Supported Housing Projects on Underutilised Community Facility Land
- Dedicated Accommodation for Low Income Families Escaping Domestic Violence
- Other Innovative Approaches to Boosting Affordable Housing Supply
Details on how to apply for round two of the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund will be announced later this year.
The creation of an innovation fund to support new approaches of affordable housing forms part of the ACT Greens and ACT Labor Parliamentary Agreement.
- Statement ends -
Yvette Berry, MLA | Media Releases
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