Inaugural Annual Report highlights ‘extraordinary’ year
For James Palmer, Chief Executive of the Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA), the past year has been the busiest and most rewarding of his career.
Read through the company’s inaugural Annual Report, now available online, and it is clear that may be an understatement.
“Extraordinary is probably a good word to describe it and yes, incredibly busy,” Palmer says.
CHFA’s first Annual Report, which covers the 2025/26 financial year, also provided an unexpected gift for James and the team at CHFA.
“It required us to take a moment to stop and reflect on exactly where we had started and how far we have come – something we hadn’t previously had the opportunity to do.”
“I am immensely proud of the achievements highlighted in the report and grateful for the herculean efforts of the CHFA team in making them happen. Ultimately though, it is not the achievements that matter the most – it is what they enable,” Palmer says.
One such achievement is CHFA’s successful Social Bond and Commercial Paper programmes, which raised more than $500 million over the past year.
These programmes created high-quality, domestic investment opportunities with positive social impact by unlocking lower-cost, long-term finance for the community and affordable housing providers CHFA supports nationwide.
“These win-win situations our model delivers are our ‘why’ here at CHFA. They matter because every dollar we can help our community and affordable housing providers save, is money they can reinvest into delivering more
much-needed affordable homes for the New Zealanders who desperately need them,” says Palmer.
The Annual Report, which is available online here, follows the completion of CHFA’s first audit, and includes a summary of Financial Statements.
Later in 2026, CHFA will publish its first Use of Proceeds Report and Impact Report, offering further insight into how its funding is supporting housing providers and communities across New Zealand.
