Bendigo is set to play a part in a new affordable housing project launched on Wednesday.
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Called ‘Unpack for Good’, the 12 month pilot program will help people currently living in community housing afford to buy their own home.
Effectively eligible residents will be able to co-own a home with community housing organisation Haven Home Safe.
Suitable community housing residents will be able to enter into what is called a “tenancy in common agreement” with the Community Sector Banking and Haven..
Under this arrangement, Haven would provide a deposit for the house and maintain a degree of equity, while CSB would finance the loan.
This would suit approximately five to 10 percent of residents of community housing, who could afford mortgage repayments, but do not have the capacity to save for a deposit, said Andrew Cairns, CEO of CSB.
“They just need a hand up, not a hand-out, just a hand up to get them to be able to break the situation they find themselves in,” Mr Cairns said.
Not every resident of community housing will be suitable for the program, which is why CSB has allied themselves with a community housing provider, he said.
Haven has an intimate involvement with their clients’ needs, aspirations and capabilities, equipping them to determine who would be suitable to participate.
“It’s this really strong relationship between the bank and the housing provider, the housing provider and their client which is very unique,” Mr Cairns said.
“This is very much working as a collective and a team, to get the right people in the right homes at the right time.”
Residents of Haven are able to register their interest on the organisations website, as a preliminary stage to the project.
Haven is encouraging interested residents to visit their website to investigate the program further, and make a personal assessment of their eligibility, a spokesperson said.
Following a registration of interest, residents will still be required to go through the standard steps for a mortgage application.