Community Finance was established in late 2019 by Christian Savings, the Lindsay Foundation, the Tindall Foundation, the Wilberforce Foundation and the Matua Charitable Trust to: Finance the construction of new community housing and support services for New Zealanders, who need support and who would otherwise not be able to access safe, secure, affordable homes.
The first investment bond is directly targeting the New Zealand housing crisis by providing low-cost construction finance to registered charitable community housing providers at rates and on terms that work.
We’re delighted to announce Community Finance reached its first investment achievement with the provision of $40 million of construction finance to The Salvation Army to build 118 new homes for individuals and families on the social housing waiting list.
As at the end of October 2020 this bond offer had closed two months ahead of schedule and was oversubscribed.
‘We are seeing growing interest from investors who want to know what their money is being invested in and that it is doing good,’ saysPaul Gilberd, Community Finance General Manager. ‘People want to be part of the solutions to the problems they see before them, not part of the problems.’
Work on new regional community bonds is well advanced. The impact investment market in New Zealand is relatively new, but developing rapidly as investors become more conscious of the power they have with the choices they make.
