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A new housing project will provide affordable housing and a path to home ownership to financially vulnerable single women with moderate incomes over the course of a decade.
Community Housing provider CHC Australia has launched a new housing project to help financially vulnerable single women with moderate incomes achieve home ownership.
The ACT’s first Build to Rent to Buy project, to be delivered by the Strathnairn Women’s Housing Initiative, will offer secure, affordable rental housing to single women, including a path to home ownership.
The project has been backed by $4.5 million in funding from the ACT government to deliver 22 townhouses in Strathnairn, in the territory’s north-west, as part of the new Ginninderry development.
The program is directed at women aged 25 to 45 years who are on low to moderate incomes, including those from essential workforces such as emergency service workers, nurses, educators, early childhood, aged and disability care workers.
Eligible participants will pay rent at just below 75 per cent of market value, leaving room to save a deposit.
Under the program, they will have 10 years of tenancy stability, and will be allowed to purchase the home between six and ten years.
When they are ready to purchase the home, tenants can use their savings as the deposit, and the CHC can also apply a share of the property’s capital growth to help access financing, if needed.
“The process is fair, transparent, and supportive, giving working women a genuine, structured pathway to home ownership without overextending financially,” the CHC said.
It also said that participants can receive early financial health checks and practical advice on saving and loan readiness from their own bank or from program partners.
“Financial readiness is a cornerstone of the pilot, with prospective tenants encouraged to seek financial advice to understand loan requirements. The early financial health checks are designed to set tenants up for success.”
CHC Australia CEO Nathan Dal Bon said that due to cost-of-living pressures, many financially vulnerable women were already struggling with day-to-day expenses, let alone saving for a deposit.
“This pilot initiative seeks to disrupt that cycle, supporting participants to steadily build savings through reduced rent, while also giving them the opportunity to share in the property’s capital growth,” he said.
Dal Bon said the CHC intended to reduce housing stress for women and their children, creating a clear pathway to build assets and intergenerational wealth.
“If the pilot is successful, we intend to replicate the model through future rounds of Build to Rent to Buy housing,” he concluded.
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