National Affordable Housing Exchange

 The Community Housing Federation of Australia (CHFA) is the national peak organisation representing the views of community housing providers in Australia.

CHFA provides sound leadership in the representation of community and affordable housing issues at the national level through strong partnerships with Government, research bodies, and key state, territory, and national organisation, peak bodies and industry groups engaged in the community and affordable housing sector.

It is uniquely placed to bring together all parties to ensure effective development of the sector in a changing economic and political environment, allowing community housing to develop as a viable housing option providing quality housing services to tenants.

The Affordable Housing Exchange is just one of the many ways in which CHFA does this. The Exchange brings together developers, financiers, researchers, Government, and peak bodies and industry groups to discuss new and innovative ways to provide suitable housing solutions.

The Exchange is being held at the Australian Technology Park on 18 and 19 February 2010.

National Affordable Housing Exchange

The funding, development, and management of affordable housing — and especially affordable rental housing — is a key area of public policy.

The need for an increase in the supply of affordable housing, and the planning, regulatory, and funding frameworks to support this has been a focus of considerable attention recently across the public, private, and community sectors in Australia.

There have been significant funding injections through the Commonwealth's Nation Building Economic Stimulus Program, ongoing financial support for affordable housing developments through initiatives such as the National Rental Affordability Scheme, and a raft of other policies across governments, including affordable housing policies and benchmarks for developers (such as South Australia's policy objective of 15% affordable housing in significant developments).

Each of these areas of affordable housing activity is generating new work and opportunities for organisations that finance, develop, or manage affordable housing programs.

This has led to an increase in the number of partnerships between organisations operating in different parts of the broader affordable housing industry. Coupled to this is an increase in the professional cross-over between people working in the development and financial sectors, and people working in the not-for-profit realm.

Exchange Aims

The CHFA National Affordable Housing Exchange aims to respond to this policy and funding backdrop by providing delegates with an opportunity to

• network,
• learn, and
• meet potential partners and suppliers

from industry, government, and the community sector directly.

Who should Attend

The Exchange is of particular interest in solving the issue of affordable housing including Property Specialists, Developers, Real Estate services, Financial Planners, the banking sector and suppliers to these services.

It will also be of interest to those working in alternative energy sector, research into urban studies specialist community housing services and those who support these services.