The AFR reports that Treasurer Scott Morrison has set up a taskforce to finalise the design for a bond aggregation scheme, which is aimed at boosting affordable housing.
The taskforce will be headed by John Fraser, the head of the Treasury Department.
Morrison says the aim of the scheme is to secure increased private investment for the construction of affordable homes. The taskforce is expected to come up with the final details on how the bond aggregation scheme will operate by the end of 2017. From the article:
The community housing sector is currently funded by government grants and stock transfers, and short-term, high-interest bank loans. A bond aggregator will provide a long-term funding source of up to 20 years.
It would allow for securitisation of debt used in the construction and maintenance of housing for low-income families.By pooling a wide range of different community housing schemes, the plan aims to effectively win financiers of public housing a better deal from the bond market.
The plan could see hundreds of millions of dollars raised from the bond market.
This is a positive minor reform to the housing market. I suspect it will have a similar impact as the National Rental Affordability Scheme – that is, a modest boost in the supply of affordable rental homes, as well as greater security of tenure for vulnerable renters.
Scott Morrison’s recent taxpayer junket to London was aimed, in part, at learning from Londoners about how such a bond aggregator scheme would work. However, it was subsequently reported that it has experienced mixed success, with a London housing project hailed by Morrison criticised for driving-up rents and driving working families out.
