Industry super fund HESTA will expand its investment beyond an initial foray into build-to-rent housing and will tap opportunities to diversify into social and affordable housing, officials of the $70 billion fund told a Senate committee on Wednesday.fund manager Super Housing Partnership
– laid bare party political fault lines over the best way to overcome Australia’s chronic housing problem. “There may well be models that evolve ... between [community housing providers] and superannuation funds, and I think what you’re talking about here would require some level of equity ownership as opposed to providing debt capital – that’s where there might be an underlying interest in the dwellings,” he said.
Mr Linden replied that funds would support existing schemes allowing members to withdraw funds for certain purposes, but that was different from allowing people to make significant withdrawals from their super balances to pay for housing.