Spotlight on: SGCH
SGCH is one of the largest community housing providers in Australia, housing over 11,000 people in almost 7,000 homes across the Sydney metro region. SGCH Group CEO Scott Langford recently shared how their $210 million NHFIC loan helped the organisation continue developing and managing sustainable, safe and affordable homes.
An affordable home can be a place of safety to weather the storms of life’s challenges, and it can be a springboard to help people launch into opportunities. Either way, putting the key to an affordable home into someone’s hand can be a life changing moment. The $210 million NHFIC loan is a big step towards putting more keys in doors.
The structure of our facility with NHFIC reflects the strength of the underlying cash flows in social and affordable housing, characterising the investment as a form of infrastructure with corresponding low volatility in revenues. Coupled with the long tenor of the facility, this means we have access to a very efficient form of capital that better matches the purpose of the asset. From this facility the group will save $40 million in financing costs which will further unlock our capital strategy, putting more dollars to work with greater confidence to deliver more homes.
One of the projects we have refinanced with NHFIC is a site at 11 Gibbons Street, Redfern. In 2019, we appointed Lendlease as the builder for this 18-storey development that will deliver 162 one, two- and three-bedroom apartments, ground floor commercial space, a local office and community hub. Built to an 8-star NatHERS rating the project includes a range of sustainability initiatives and targets, including energy efficient unit design, solar panels and battery storage.
When this site is completed in mid-2021 we will put keys in hands and unlock opportunity for people like Rochelle, who recently moved into our new development in Liverpool and sees her affordable home as a springboard.
Following a marriage breakdown, Rochelle and her young son moved had moved back in with her parents as they couldn’t afford anything in the private market. She is now living in an SGCH affordable housing unit, enjoying independence but remaining close to family support. She is able to focus on her son and the salon business that she has run for the past 19 years with high hopes for their future.
“With my rent a little bit cheaper, I can build my business faster and look to buying my own place in the next few years. That’s what I’ve worked hard for and I know I can achieve it again.”
