Gilbert + Tobin has advised Housing Australia on the financing of Evolve Housing’s Sunshine North project in Victoria, supporting the delivery of 85 social and affordable homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).
The project forms part of Housing Australia’s broader objective to increase the supply of social and affordable housing by unlocking institutional capital alongside government funding and deploying it at scale.
In order to achieve financial close, Gilbert +Tobin worked with Housing Australia to structure a multi-layered financing that combines Housing Australia concessional funding and senior debt, private mezzanine debt from Cerberus Capital and grant funding. The transaction required careful alignment of public and private sector objectives, as well as coordination across multiple stakeholders including government agencies, investors and Evolve Housing.
The structure is expected to serve as a template for future HAFF projects for Evolve Housing, demonstrating how blended funding models can be implemented efficiently to accelerate housing delivery.
G+T’s team was led by partner Adela Smith and special counsel Caroline Mathie, with support from lawyers Jack Jin and Melinda Cook.
Adela commented:
A key focus for Housing Australia is to deploy funding in a way that attracts private capital and can be replicated across multiple projects. This transaction shows that, with the right structure, you can align government policy objectives with institutional investment requirements and deliver outcomes at scale. We are pleased to support Housing Australia in establishing a model that can be rolled out across multiple HAFF transactions
