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National Australia Bank (NAB) has deepened its contribution to establishing affordable housing within the country by joining the Constellation Project as an alliance member.
Moving forward, NAB will support the Constellation Project's efforts in helping eradicate homeless in Australia.
"Our shared vision is very simple: to end homelessness within a generation. We don’t have all the answers, but we are determined to play our part and make a difference," said David Gall, executive for corporate and institutional banking at NAB Group.
Founded in 2018, the Constellation Project aims to produce "co-designed, tested, and refined solutions" that help build new homes for Australians with low to moderate incomes. The collaboration employs a "housing first approach" in finding solutions to ending the chronic shortage of affordable housing which has plagued the country for years.
Further, the project creates an avenue for the private sector, not-for-profit organisations, academia, and the government to collaborate on efforts to end homelessness.
Gall said NAB will promote skilled volunteering opportunities that will focus on providing sector knowledge and insights in areas such as strategy, financial and banking advisory, First Nations, operations, risk and communications.
"We will also contribute to discussions on national policy issues that could help increase the number of affordable housing dwellings, including through land use planning initiatives, such as mandatory inclusionary zoning,” he added.
NAB's alliance with the Constellation Project adds to its $2bn commitment to build affordable and specialist housing.
The existing efforts, which were announced late last year, have involved providing loans and developing new financing avenues for not-for-profit organisations and groups that tackle affordable housing.
With the newly-announced $2bn pledge, NAB has become the first Australian bank to lend at scale to crisis accommodation providers.
