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Jonathan McKenzie
is the Property
Executive at McKenzie
Consulting.
NRAS ­ the National Rental Affordability
Scheme ­ was designed by the Howard
Government of 2006 following extensive
collaboration between the Federal
Government and the State and Territory
governments. It was created as a stimulus
package aimed at:
· Increasingthesupplyofaffordablerental
properties in Australia.
· Reducingrentallevelsforlowto
moderate-income earners.
· Encouraginglarge-scaleinvestmentand
the delivery of affordable housing
across Australia.
It was however, the Rudd Government
of 2008 that actually hatched the NRAS
egg on the 24 July 2008, when the first
call for applications for NRAS entitlements
was announced. The scheme's master plan
envisaged delivery of an additional 50,000
new dwellings for affordable rental housing
in the period July 2008 to June 2012.
With regards to the current state of
play, Mark Butler, Minister for Housing
and Homelessness, said recently he was
working with the various State and Territory
Ministers to open the fifth round of NRAS,
intended to complete the 50,000 dwelling
target by June 2015.
Unravelling NRAS
According to
Jonathan McKenzie, the National Rental Affordability Scheme
has emerged as a new class of tax-effective bricks and mortar investment.