National Rental Affordability Scheme

There are three components of the third call of the National Rental Affordability Scheme. All three components are now open for applications and NSW is participating in all components of the round. Details of the three components are available on the FaHCSIA website.

The three components include applications:

1. Which link to proposals under the Social Housing Initiative, a component of the Nation Building and Economic Stimulus Plan.
2. Which seek to have the private sector develop state-owned land that has been released for residential development - the NRAS component can be all or part of the development.
3. Which propose to construct a minimum of 1,000 dwellings as a large scale portfolio of affordable housing.
   

Eligible applicants for component one and two above will be contacted directly by Housing NSW and invited to apply. Applicants for the third component above can obtain application information from the FaHCSIA website.

The incentive provided through the scheme comprises a $6,504 per annum (indexed) Australian Government contribution in the form of a tax offset or grant, and a State/Territory Government contribution of at least $2,168 per annum (indexed) in the form of financial and/or in kind support.

The NSW Government is offering its state contribution in two forms, NSW NRAS A and NSW NRAS B.

• NSW NRAS A for not-for-profit registered community housing providers. Under NRAS A, registered community housing providers are able to access Affordable Housing Innovations Funding (AHIF) in combination with the NRAS incentive. AHIF funding involves an upfront contribution of up to 40% of the capital costs of the project.
• NSW is participating in NRAS A by inviting applications from organisations to compete for up to $47.5 million in NRAS A funding. Changes to the available funding amounts will be updated on this website.
• NSW NRAS B for all eligible organisations, including private investors, developers or aged care providers. Under NRAS B, the NSW Government is offering a payment of $2,168 per year for eligible organisations.
• Information about available NRAS B incentives will be updated on this website. 

For more information on NRAS, please contact the Australian Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs by visiting:
http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/housing/funding/rentalaffordability/Pages/default.aspx
 
For information on how NRAS will work in NSW, please contact the Centre for Affordable Housing by emailing nras@housing.nsw.gov.au or by ringing 02 8753 8181.

Background

The Australian Government's National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) will provide incentives to increase the supply of affordable housing for rent to eligible tenants for a period of ten years.  Incentives will be allocated for up to 50,000 new dwellings in the first four years, with a further 50,000 to be provided if demand remains high.

The NRAS was introduced to:

• increase the supply of affordable rental dwellings
• reduce rental costs for low to moderate income households
• encourage large scale investment in innovative delivery of affordable housing.

There are two phases to the NRAS:

• Establishment Phase (1 July 2008 - 30 June 2010)

Two Calls for Applications were advertised for the Establishment Phase – July 2008 and December 2008.

• Expansion Phase (1 July 2010 - 30 June 2012)

The first Call for Applications for the Expansion Phase (Call Three) is anticipated to be announced soon on the FaHCSIA website.

Top of page

Results NRAS Round Two

The successful National Rental Affordability Scheme Call Two applicants have been announced by the Australian Government. In total 1363 incentives have been allocated to NSW in round two. This takes the total number of incentives allocated to NSW so far in the Establishment Phase of NRAS to 2437. 

NRAS Call Two was broken into 2 stages. The early call closed on 1st February 2009. The results of the early call are known in full and are listed in the table below.

The results of NRAS round that closed on 27 March are listed on the second table below. Some changes may be made to the second table as more information becomes available.   

Results NRAS Round One  

All successful National Rental Affordability Scheme Call One applicants have been announced by the Australian Government. In total 1074 incentives were allocated to 15 applicants to NSW in round 1.

In NSW NRAS Call One was broken into NRAS A and NRAS B. Five organisations were successful in applying for NRAS A and eleven for NRAS B. The successful organisations are:

Notice to Investors and Recipients

Where dwellings are approved under the Scheme, investors should be aware that this does not mean that the NSW Government endorses, guarantees or secures the investment in any way. Investors and approved participants should also be aware that provision of the Incentive is dependent on satisfactory completion of all conditions and compliance requirements under the Scheme.  For more information on conditions and compliance requirements, please contact the Australian Government.

Top of page