Head Start Homes is awarded a $100,000 Impact Investment Ready Growth Grant
A grant provided by Impact Investing Australia and funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services has been awarded to Head Start Homes (HSH).
The Impact Investment Ready Growth Grant, valued at $100,000, will be used to develop our new and innovative build-to-rent-to-buy model called the Head Start Purchase Option with Equity+ with HSH key providers Social Enterprise Finance Australia (Sefa) and the Centre for Social Finance Law.
Founder and Managing Director, Stephen Woodlands, said he was most appreciative of the grant, which together with the support from the NSW government Social Sector transformation fund, would help HSH secure further investment and scale our social impact.
“The tangible outcomes of this funding will be not only be more community housing but excitingly more single parent and First Nations households becoming proud homeowners” he said.
Stephen Woodlands, Founder and Managing Director for Head Start Homes
Mr Woodlands said HSH was thrilled to be working with Sefa and the Centre for Social Finance Law to commence its capital raising journey with a target to raise $5 million.
“We’re also proud to be collaborating with Developers, builders, banks, local government, and valuers to design and build this solution which addresses the supply, know-how and deposit barriers faced by our clients and leverages from the learnings of our successful Burke Town solution which was pioneered with Burke Shire Council and Westpac in remote Queensland.
Under the Head Start Purchase Option with Equity+, HSH and community housing providers will purchase new community housing homes at a discount which will be made available from developers, builders and local government. Head Start Homes then helps community housing tenants become homeowners with its empowerment services and products. The original discount is also passed onto the new homeowner to help remove the need for a deposit and mortgage insurance as well as provide the new homeowner with positive equity and a reduced loan amount which we’re calling Equity+.
The Impact Investing Australia Growth Grant Expert Panel said:
“Impact Investing Australia congratulates Head Start Homes on receiving an Impact Investment Ready Growth Grant. The grant program provide social enterprises wanting to scale their impact with funding for business, financial, legal and other capacity building support. “
In awarding the grant, Impact Investing Australia noted there is a huge opportunity to scale the affordable housing sector with the impactful solutions that Head Start Homes has established, and there is a great source of private investment available to achieve this.
Michael Ryland, Director, Centre for Social Finance Law
Michael Ryland, Director, Centre for Social Finance Law said:
“The Head Start Homes Purchase Option with Equity+ model is an exciting and scalable innovation that will have a significant impact. The Centre for Social Finance Law is pleased to be able to contribute to its design and legal structuring.”
Manfred Bauer, Head Of Portfolio Management
Manfred Bauer, Head Of Portfolio Management, Sefa said:
“We at Sefa are excited to work alongside HSH and Centre for Social Finance Law to find ways in which capital and capability can play a key role in supporting the growth of HSH. From impact measurement frameworks, investment readiness, to capital raising, we expect to provide HSH with a set of foundations for scale and leverage from networks, investors, and partners in the sector”.
“The value proposition and model that HSH is developing is quite unique, which creates interesting opportunities to investors and partners to participate early on and contribute to a greater impact in the affordable housing space”.
