More than 1,000 affordable rental units in Canberra

More than 1,000 affordable rental units will be built for students at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra thanks to the Rudd Labor Government.

Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek today announced that the ANU had been approved to build 1,023 new units through the National Rental Affordability Scheme, which will be rented at 20 per cent below market rate.

The ANU proposal consists of a series of projects with the first lot of accommodation being made available to tenants within the next few months and the other stages expected to deliver units in January 2011, January 2012, and June 2012.

About 80 per cent of ANU’s National Rental Affordability Scheme units will be studio apartments with the remainder being a combination of different sized dwellings.

Students who come to study at ANU from rural and regional areas in Australia can face a tough battle in the private rental market. 

Statistics show that 27.1 per cent of students attending the ANU come from Australian towns and cities other than Canberra.

This development not only provides options for students attending the ANU, it will also relieve pressure on the already tight private rental market in Canberra, freeing up some of the rental accommodation required for key workers in the national capital.

Under the Scheme, the Rudd Government has combined with State and Territory Governments to increase the supply of affordable rental housing for low and moderate income earners by building up to 50,000 affordable rental properties across Australia.

The National Rental Affordability Scheme is also supporting jobs for builders, tradies and suppliers across the country.

Successful applicants currently receive an annual incentive of $9,140 for each approved dwelling, indexed annually to the rental component of the CPI for ten years.

Round Three was targeted at bids of more than 1,000 properties to encourage providers to invest in affordable rental housing at scale.

The ANU’s proposal is the second large-scale proposal to be awarded incentives under round three of the NRAS and a further ten large-scale applications are currently being assessed.

The Rudd Government is investing more than $1 billion in the National Rental Affordability Scheme over the next four years.

The National Rental Affordability Scheme is one part of the Government’s program to deliver more than 80,000 affordable homes across Australia by 2012.