The Housing Boost Aggregator (HBA)

Abstract

A solution to unlock private investment in social and affordable rental housing supply.
Australia has a well-documented shortage of social and affordable rental housing for low and moderate-income households.
The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) provides debt financing for social and affordable housing, with Community Housing Organisations (CHOs) typically using their
rental income to pay the interest.
Even when combined with other available forms of funding assistance (such as rate and tax rebates, planning concessions
and land contributions) these loans are often not enough to fund new social and affordable homes. In short, CHOs are faced with a funding gap that prevents new builds.
Despite the exceptionally low interest rates of the past few years, this funding gap has consistently presented a barrier to scaling up the industry to produce affordable rental housing.
The Housing Boost Aggregator (HBA) is a way to close this funding gap through the creation of a new Commonwealth tax subsidy alongside pooling portfolios of affordable housing projects to
attract ongoing institutional investment.
Contributors to this work include:
Wendy Hayhurst Community Housing Industry Association
Adrian Pisarski National Shelter
Gemma Pinnell Industry Super Australia
Mark Degotardi Community Housing Industry Association NSW
Charles Northcote BlueCHP Limited
Erin Sales Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees
Geordan Murray Housing Industry Association
Carrie Hamilton Housing Action Network
Christian A. Nygaard Swinburne University of Technology