Buyers embrace Anglicare social housing experiment in Sydney’s west

“We’ve also done some integrated social housing with retirement living, so that was something we were comfortable with, so I suppose this was taking the next step into the strata housing market.”

The business model is that Anglicare holds and rents out a proportion of the development to under-resourced people in urgent need of accommodation, which is 73 per cent in the case of the western Sydney apartments, and sells the rest at affordable prices relative to nearby developments.

Women aged over 55 will live in the social housing component of the developments at Mount Druitt, Liverpool and Fairfield, which comprise 341 studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments. Prices start at $299,000 and top out at $580,000.

The social housing rents are subsidised by the NSW government, which also provides support services for tenants, as part of its $1.1 billion Social and Affordable Housing Fund.

Mr Paltoo said the retirement living operating model used by Anglicare in its retirement living projects was “pretty much build to rent (BTR), so we were comfortable with it.

“The other thing that gave us comfort was the government wanted affordable accommodation for women over the age of 55, which seemed to fit well with mixed strata developments.

“They’re a quieter cohort, less disruptive to the general public and it’s a good news story: ‘Anglicare is providing social housing for women aged over 55, do you want to be part of the project?’.

“That’s the angle we took and that’s been well received by the market.”

Agent James Bell from McGrath said the project had been selling well since the apartments went on the market last July and there had been virtually no resistance to the mixed use concept.

“We were very careful and very open about the fact that the building was shared but buyers felt comfortable and the market was very accepting,” Mr Bell said.

“A few asked questions but no-one pulled out. We were aware there could be some resistance but we were very pleasantly surprised with the fact we had virtually none from potential purchasers.”

Mr Bell said pricing was key. “We were at the lower end of the market with an economical fitout.”

Project director Serge Bolgarschii said the primary objective of the project was to provide social and affordable housing. “Strata become part of it because it adds value from an integration point of view,” he said.

Mr Bolgarschii also used the BTR analogy: “But our residents are people with a lower income bracket who we provide accommodation for” plus a range of communal facilities such as common rooms, gyms, barbecues and communal kitchens everyone who lives in the apartments can share.

“It’s a full integration and that means people actually mingle better, share ideas and that’s what helps them get back to their normal life if they went through a difficult time.”