Social and Affordable Housing

Across Australia, Polis Partners has supported governments, peak bodies and community organisations to respond to the housing affordability crisis through practical policy design, delivery strategy, investment and funding advice, and implementation support. Our work spans crisis, social and affordable housing, rental affordability, and specialist housing responses for vulnerable cohorts, with a focus on evidence-based recommendations that are grounded in market realities and informed by sector engagement. Some of our work includes:

• Policy and strategy development: designing jurisdiction-wide strategies and guidance (e.g., Rental Affordability Strategies, Affordable Housing Strategies and practical toolkits for local government) that translate policy objectives into implementable actions.
• Delivery models, feasibility and market testing: assessing delivery scenarios, partner capability (including community housing provider capacity), construction market constraints and delivery risk to inform investment decisions on government land and precinct-scale opportunities.
• Governance and commercial structures: advising on the role and practical implementation of special purpose vehicles (SPVs), including guidance for providers and advocacy positions to strengthen regulatory and policy settings.
• Program and funding readiness: supporting proponents to navigate funding programs (including HAFF), align proposals to assessment criteria, coordinate stakeholder inputs, and build robust affordability and viability cases through financial modelling.
• Sector consultation and evidence synthesis: leading large-scale surveys, targeted interviews and stakeholder workshops to capture on-the-ground delivery experience and translate it into clear themes and recommendations for government decision-makers.
• Implementation-focused outputs: producing roadmaps, green papers, discussion papers and guidelines that support clients to move from analysis to delivery. For example, we worked with Australian Community Housing to develop a practical guide to build capability and partnerships between local government and Community Housing Providers: https://australiancommunityhousing.org.au/research-and-reports/

Collectively, our work demonstrates experience working across the full housing system—Commonwealth programs, state and territory policy settings, local government levers and community housing delivery. We have delivered both public-facing and internal reports used to shape legislation and program design, support sector capability uplift, and accelerate project delivery— including successful funding outcomes for social housing targeting women and children escaping domestic and family violence.