Goldman invests $96m in Australia disability housing player
Goldman Sachs Asset Management has committed A$137 million ($96 million) to Synergis, an Australian investment platform focused on providing housing for people with disabilities.
Synergis is a joint venture of Federation Asset Management, a local private equity firm that invests across various sustainability thematics, and Social Ventures Australia, an impact-focused incubator and investor. Its funds are managed under the name Social Infrastructure Investment Partners (SIIP).
The plan is to raise and deploy A$1 billion in the next five years, providing homes for more than 2,000 people with disabilities. Previous investors include Paul Ramsay Foundation, Portcullis House, and Suncorp Group, as well as Hesta, which has separately provided A$70million to an impact fund managed by Social Ventures.
Synergis invests in properties that qualify as specialist disability accommodation. These are often custom-built homes with features such as wheelchair-accessible layouts and app-operated doors. It has begun more than 50 such housing projects since its inception in 2018. This portfolio represents accommodation for some 150 people.
“The new investment enables us to scale that up rapidly,” Michael Lynch, a managing director of Synergis and senior impact advisor at Social Ventures, said in a statement. “We have the ability now to accelerate development of a property portfolio that is focussed on the needs of people with a disability and hopefully generate significant and measurable positive impact on their lives.”
Synergis describes disability housing as an emerging social infrastructure asset class all its own. The idea is to target social impact and attractive long-term, risk-adjusted financial returns with support from existing government programs. Investments are made across various property types, including apartments, villas, and houses.
Much of Synergis’ mandate feeds into Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which has budgeted A$700 million for disability housing development and rental payments. NDIS has about 460,000 participants, of which 28,000 are eligible for housing support. Some 12,000 disabled people in Australia currently have no access to special accommodation for their needs.
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