This is housing that is priced for low and moderate income households and which they can afford so that they do not have to go without the basic essentials. Affordable housing can be funded by several different sources within Australia and some government funding has now been earmarked for providing more affordable accommodation. Nonetheless the non-profit and private sectors are also finding that affordable accommodation can provide satisfactory return on their investments, to make affordable housing financially sustainable and therefore be a part of any new developments. Affordable housing for rent is mainly managed by community housing organisations, even though this housing can similarly be managed privately by real estate agents or via specially set up enterprises.
The National Rental Affordability Scheme is a Government initiative to increase the stock of new affordable rental homes. NRAS offers yearly incentives for 10 years and this has increased the amount of affordable properties available to individuals and families in low or moderate income households. The Government’s subsidy is given to investors who rent out their properties at 20 % below the market rate for the duration of the 10 years.
There were a few reports that Sydney investors are losing out on the National Rental Affordability Scheme for the reason that as the government subsidy is fixed, even when the investor experiences the high land prices of Sydney and therefore their costs are very high. Consequently, the scheme makes good logic when land is cheap and market rents are low but the scheme works less well for NRAS Sydney where land is much more expensive.
The Centre for Affordable Housing is a business within Housing NSW and can be found at; http://www.housing.nsw.gov.au/
Also for more information on the National Rental Affordability Scheme Guidelines go to; http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/housing/progserv/affordability/nras/Pages/default.aspx
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