HomeFund

HomeFund was a scheme set up by the New South Wales state government and operated through co-operative housing societies^[1] that allowed people who would not otherwise be able to afford a home to take out loans that would allow them to purchase a home. The scheme was especially targeted at public housing tenants.^[2]

The scheme was originally set up by the Labor Party government of Neville Wran in the mid-1980s. Problems started to emerge when the then-new Coalition government of Nick Greiner raised public housing rents^[3] and started to market more aggressively toward public housing tenants, with some people receiving 30-year loans even though they were already aged into their 70s and 80s.^[4] Interest rates for the scheme rose to around 15.9%, which was somewhat consistent with what other home loan lenders were charging at the time but out of reach of most HomeFund borrowers,^[5] with in many cases repayments not even covering interest.^[3]

As a result of this, the scheme was restructured in 1993 with the appointment of a HomeFund commissioner to deal with complaints^[6] and a program to either move loans to commercial lenders or cap interest rates.^[7]

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