Homes For Homes

The Australian Government is providing $6 million as seed funding to Homes for Homes, an independent, not-for-profit organisation established by The Big Issue. The funding over four years (from 2017-18 to 2020-21) aims to increase Homes for Homes’ organisational capacity to bring about an innovative and scalable approach to raising private funds to support the development of social and affordable housing.

Under the Homes for Homes initiative, home owners voluntarily agree to a caveat on their property and make a tax deductible donation at the time of sale of 0.1 per cent of the sale price (for example, a $750 donation on a $750,000 sale). As a voluntary initiative, the home owner can opt-out of Homes for Homes at any time.

Revenue from the caveats is aggregated by Homes for Homes in the state or territory in which they were raised to fund social and affordable housing projects via a competitive selection process. The caveat mechanism is a new approach to generating capital for social and affordable housing, which Homes for Homes estimates has the potential to generate more than $1.8 billion over 30 years.

Homes for Homes has established housing and investment advisory groups to support their business model.

Further information about the Homes for Homes initiative.

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