Funding affordable housing

Many EchoRealty affordable housing properties are funded through the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS), a federal government program that is progressively being phased out.

The scheme, which began in 2008, provided a financial incentive for up to ten years to property owners who allowed their homes to be rented out as affordable

housing for at least 20 percent below market rent.

This scheme was discontinued in 2016, and by June 2026, the last NRAS properties to be included in the program will have their funding expire.

While the end of the scheme will undoubtedly impact the way we finance our affordable housing portfolio, we are proactively working to combat the loss of funding and maintain as many affordable housing properties as possible.

Evolve Housing currently owns 344 properties that receive NRAS funding. We will retain and continue to operate as many of these as affordable housing as possible, despite the potential cost to our organisation.

We have used finance obtained through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to refinance developments which previously had NRAS incentives to reduce interest costs.

We also manage 438 NRAS properties that are owned by private market owners. Whether or not these can be retained as affordable housing after NRAS funding expires is highly uncertain and depends on the private owners’ decisions. Without an incentive covering the difference between market rental rates and discounted affordable housing rates, many landlords may choose to return their properties to the private market.

EchoRealty has been proactively exploring various options to minimise potential loss of affordable housing. As the current housing market is flat, we believe we may be able to persuade some investors to continue to lease their properties as affordable rental housing to income eligible households managed by us.

We are also looking at other programs that fund affordable housing so that we can move tenants into new properties if their rental home is transitioned to private market housing by its owner.

In particular, the ARHSEPP/inclusionary zoning policies at the state level have resulted in the creation of more

affordable housing properties and EchoRealty has been able to secure a number of these.

There are other policy mechanisms that will also likely boost the supply of affordable housing, such as requirements for local councils to establish Affordable Rental Housing Targets. We are well-placed to take advantage of these opportunities and apply to become part of these programs.

EchoRealty will undertake analysis in due course to understand the locational loss of NRAS properties and potential replacement options. It is to be noted that apart from the potential loss of 2 dwellings in 2019, for EchoRealty, there is no real impact on externally owned NRAS properties until 2023. We are advocating for all levels of government to consider some alternate scheme that may provide continuing support to owners of affordable housing stock.