ACC and CORT reach milestone with first tranche of Auckland community housing
We're pleased to announce that our partnership with CORT has delivered the first of many homes in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
An innovative funding partnership between ACC and CORT Community Housing has reached a milestone with the completion of the first 15 of 104 new homes planned for Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
ACC has committed $61 million in the joint venture, ACCORT, which was established in 2020 with a long-term commitment from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to fund, build and manage new homes for people and families on the public housing waiting list in Auckland.
“This partnership is a great example of ACC’s Investment Fund (the Fund) achieving social impact while also delivering a sound financial return for the scheme for the benefit of all New Zealanders," says Ian Purdy, ACC Portfolio Manager Property & Infrastructure.
“Growing the community housing sector through innovative partnerships like ACCORT will be crucial to supply enough homes to meet the need for affordable rental housing,” he says.
“ACCORT has developed a commercial investment structure that can be replicated and further developed and is expected to generate a pipeline of further opportunities.”
The initial development, located in West Harbour, comprises 12 one-bedroom and 3 two-bedroom homes that are well located close to schools and amenities and feature good internal and external design so that they are comfortable, warm and well-ventilated places to live.
“CORT is thrilled to partner with ACC to bring this innovative joint venture funding model to the sector and we look forward to building a better future for more tenants as this partnership progresses,” says CORT CEO Stephen Hart.
This is the first of seven developments planned under the partnership. It’s a great example of how the Fund contributes to ACC improving lives every day.
ACC’s commitment to creating positive social and environmental impacts while generating financial returns also extends to our Impact funds.
Since launching in late 2020, our Health & safety Impact Fund has made investments designed to reduce the cost of accidents, such as Robotics Plus, which develops technology designed to keep forestry, agriculture, and transport workers safe, and Mentemia, now rebranded as Groov, a digital platform to support mental wellbeing in the workplace.
We have also launched our Climate Impact Fund in December 2021, and its first investment is in Leaft Foods, a start-up that extracts a protein called Rubisco from green leaf crops and offers farmers a way to diversify away from more carbon-intensive food production.
ACC’s investment team operates under the guiding principles of our ethical investment policy. Environmental, Social, Governance (“ESG”) considerations are a common framework applied across ACC Investments and in the global investment community for incorporating ethical principles in the decision-making process.
