New grants open for social and affordable housing

From Monday (12 September), social and affordable housing providers in the ACT and Victoria will be able to apply for grant funding to help bring online more housing for those in need.

Grants of $200,000 will be available in the ACT and Victoria, with $100,000 specifically for social and affordable housing projects in the City of Casey. This marks the first time Homes for Homes will be granting funds in a specific local government area (LGA). 

Any organisation that can create social and affordable housing is being encouraged to apply before the closing deadline of 14 October.

According to the body, the grants have been raised following support and donations from developers and home owners in these states and territories, who donated funds from property sales.

Donations reportedly came from those in the Canberra suburb Denman Prospect, Development Victoria’s Taylors Quarter project and Balcon’s Orana development in the Victorian City of Casey.

Both Denman Prospect (by Capital Estate Developments) and Orana (by Balcon Group) reportedly registered all their properties with Homes for Homes and donated 0.1 per cent of the sale of each block to Homes for Homes.

Speaking of the new grants, Homes for Homes chief executive Steven Persson said the body was “on track to be the largest non-government funder of social and affordable housing” .

“We are thrilled to again be granting funds across the ACT and Victoria. These funds are a direct result of the generosity of homeowners and developers paying it forward to help create housing for those in our community who need it most,” he said.

“We thank all those who have registered their properties with Homes for Homes and those who contributed to this new grant round, in particular our strong partnership with Capital Estate Developments and Balcon Group.” 

This funding marked the sixth round of grants released to community housing projects by Homes for Homes.

Earlier this year, it granted funding to projects in NSW and Western Australia. 

To date, it has received over $2 million in donations and has granted $1.28 million to social and affordable housing providers in the ACT and Northern Territory, Victoria and Queensland, across 13 projects providing housing for 96 people. 

[Related: Treasurer calls on super industry to boost housing investment]