Since 1975, IBA’s Home Ownership Program has assisted more than 14,000 Indigenous Australians in exercising choice over their social, economic and housing circumstances. The program offers concessional home loans and after-care support to eligible clients.

The program relies heavily on self financing, with new lending funded from loan repayments and the early payout of existing loans. Eligible applicants are therefore placed on an Expressions of Interest Register prior to being invited to apply for a home loan.

Nat (surname withheld) from New South Wales, and Paul Kelly from regional Victoria, while total strangers and located in different parts of the country, shared a dream to achieve home ownership, build economic independence and determine their own futures. Here they share their personal home ownership journeys.

Since 1975 IBA’s Home Ownership Program has assisted more than 14,000 Indigenous Australians into home ownership.

As a young woman growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney, Nat always had big dreams for herself. Working against those dreams, however, was a lack of positive messaging as to what she was capable of, and what she should aspire to. Nat said: ‘People would put me down, but there was just something in me that dreamed bigger than that’.

To keep her dreams intact, Nat kept a private journal in which she recorded goals that included finishing Year 12, securing a fulltime job, buying a car, and owning her own home. She said: ‘My own parents were quite elderly, and even when they were pensioners they were still renting, and still having to move at a moment’s notice until they were eventually priced out of the market and into Department of Housing accommodation. I saw that happening, and didn’t want that for myself so I started saving early for my own place’.

Paul Kelly’s childhood was similarly marked by personal challenges. A Gundtitjamara man from regional Victoria, Paul suffered the loss of the family home to fire, and the death of both his father and an older brother before the age of five. Separated from his mother and siblings, he spent the next nine years living in a series of foster homes and hostels, moving from school to school. He said: ‘I never knew where I was going to be living one year to the next. I witnessed a lot of bad things, had no real possessions, little education, and can’t even remember opening a Christmas or birthday present until I was in my teens – and that was from my wife Nicole’.

Back in Sydney, Nat did finish Year 12, did secure a fulltime job, did buy a car (an ‘old bomb’ by her own admission) and in 2002 secured a loan through IBA’s Home Ownership Program which enabled her to purchase a unit in Sydney.

Paul meanwhile was equally determined to set a new course for his life, and becoming a father in his mid-teens only increased his determination to achieve stability and security for himself and his family. Paul undertook first work experience, and then training to become a tour guide at the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve near Warnambool. He said: ‘I wasn’t going to have my child experience the kind of hardship I did, and both Nicole and I were adamant that as young as we were, we would do whatever it took to provide a secure living environment for our children, and be positive role models’.

For both Nat and Paul, the Great Australian Dream of home ownership represented a break from a cycle of disadvantage. Nat says that, in her own case, being placed on IBA’s Expressions of Interest Register provided a first glimpse of her home ownership dream, and the 18 months she spent on the register proved an advantage. She said: ‘Being on the waiting list made it all a bit more real. It was like, ok, now I need to get my act together, get my finances sorted, do some research, get ready for buying a home. So I started having conversations and asking questions. And I got really good at listening to the stories of other home buyers and filing away bits of information’.

The Kelly family's home under construction in Dennington, Victoria 2007.

Paul remembers the process of finalising that loan, buying the land and building the family home as being equal parts daunting and exciting. He said: ‘We knew that if we approached a mainstream bank there was no way we’d have been able to meet the deposit requirements, or afford the interest rates. So we made the call to IBA and they talked us through everything we needed to do. The process was pretty overwhelming, but then we would drive past our new property every day and watch all the changes taking place, and it just gave us such hope, and a feeling of pride and accomplishment’.

Similarly, Nat says that despite dreaming of owning a home from an early age, she was still daunted by the financial and legal process of settlement and says the intensive support of IBA’s home lending team was invaluable. She said: ‘IBA sit you down and talk through your fears, talk through all the aspects of home ownership. Many mainstream banks don’t understand that (as Indigenous Australians) we are coming from generations who have never owned homes, and there’s basic information we simply don’t know. It’s a bit like when I bought my first car; no-one in my family had ever owned a car, so I didn’t know how to put petrol in it and I had to get a petrol pump attendant to show me. So to me, IBA are like that petrol pump attendant; they walk you through the process and make you feel supported. And part of that support may be helping you decide that you’re not ready, that you need a couple more years on the waiting list until you’ve saved more money, or gained the maturity to take on home ownership’.

Nat and Paul’s individual stories illustrate why home ownership is high on the Australian Government’s agenda for closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. Nat says owning her own home has given her a sense of stability, security and control over her life. And her skills in financial planning have impacted on other areas of her life. After five years of aggressively paying off her home loan, and concerned at having all of her wealth tied up in one asset, she explored diversifying her investments. Once again she sought the advice of friends and financial planners, and undertook her own research. Nat said: ‘Talking to other people, I came to understand that my home could be a source of equity, that it could create future wealth and options. That’s when I left IBA, refinanced my home loan and used the equity to buy some blue-chip shares’.

Like many IBA home owners, Paul and his wife have stayed ahead of their required loan repayments in order to pay off their loan faster, and give themselves a financial buffer. However, Paul also acknowledged: ‘We know that the money we pay off our loan goes back to IBA which means they can then offer a loan to someone else. And we want as many people as possible to share this opportunity to own their own home’.  Paul sees their home as a platform from which to build further wealth, and is already planning to build a new home in Dennington within the next five years. ‘We’re in such a great financial position now’, he said ‘and we’ve got the confidence to chase our other dreams in life’.

Paul still can’t quite believe he has achieved his dream of a secure and stable home environment. He said: ‘I’m somewhat like that man on the television advertisement who stands in front of his home admiring his roof. Every day when I arrive home from work, I still take a few seconds to look at our house and feel so extremely happy and proud of what we’ve achieved. It’s important that others look at young people like my wife and I and know they can achieve their dreams through hard work, sacrifice and determination’.

Of having achieved the goals she penned in her journal so long ago, Nat said: ‘Owning a home was the last of those goals, and about five years into paying off my home I realised I had an opportunity to reassess and push my dreams even further. So it has really started a whole new life cycle for me, which has included my first ever experience of overseas travel. And what I didn’t realise is that it’s not just about owning a home, it’s actually about making an investment in bigger things – in a future’.