Despite NRAS criticism, government should commit to scheme: GBCA

While criticism of the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) has been seeing headlines recently, the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) is still urging the government to re-commit.

The GBCA's chief operating officer, Robin Mellon, applauded NRAS for driving affordable housing projects across the country, with many of them reaching Green Star benchmarks. NRAS has delivered a total of 14,500 dwellings, with allocations for another 23,000.

“Rather than scrapping the scheme, the Abbott government has the opportunity to make a good scheme even better," said Mellon.

The first NRAS project to achieve 5 Star Green Star - Multi Unit Residential As Built v1 certification was Monash University's Briggs Hall & Jackomos Hall. The University of Tasmania also has projects registered to achieve the certification.

“These NRAS projects demonstrate that well-designed and well-constructed, sustainable developments are more efficient buildings – with lower energy consumption and lower energy bills the result,” said Mellon.

He pointed to recent comments from executive director of the Residential Development Council, Nick Proud, that ditching NRAS would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

“Increasing housing affordability in Australia requires a range of complementary measures, together with commitment from industry and all levels of government. NRAS is a vital piece of the jigsaw – one that we can't afford to lose,” said Mellon.