Abstract: Apart from being perennially underfunded in a country recording rapid population growth, public housing policy is rarely innovative or exciting interest. There is a story, however, in Victoria that needs to be broadcast and given some fanfare. It concerns a social initiative by a volunteer group in the field of affordable housing aimed at the marginalised. It is a scheme, too, that receives little federal or state assistance yet it’s social and economic return is better than any government-funded housing project. This paper has one basic premise: that investment in affordable housing for low-income women provides both micro and macro economic benefits for cities and communities. This is a practitioner paper that demonstrates the economic and social benefits of not-for-profit investment in social housing using the results of Social Return on Investment (SROI) research into the value produced by the volunteer and philanthropic group known as the Victorian Women’s Housing Association (VWHA). The Victorian Women’s Housing Association (VWHA) was established in 1996 to exclusively develop innovative but affordable housing solutions for disadvantaged women and their children. VWHA’s mission is to build and rent affordable and safe housing to disadvantaged and ‘at risk’ women and their dependents. To achieve this mission, the association collaborates with a range of funders and partners who have a passion for transforming the lives of women and their children. The key innovations in VWHA’s approach include: • Being the first community / social housing organisation in Australia to use the SROI assessment of the explicit and implicit value of the housing • The first community housing developer to use borrowings to extend its ability to develop and build housing in the outer metropolitan suburbs of Melbourne • Setting up a social investment fund for women and children to allow a sustainable resource pool for social housing construction and development which, in turn, reduces reliance on government funding. VWHA is committed to measuring outcomes. In late 2009 VWHA commissioned Social Ventures Australia (SVA) Consulting to evaluate the outcomes of the investment in affordable housing by VWHA and its partners. The research aimed to provide investors and funders (current and future) of VWHA with data to indicate that their investments are used efficiently, effectively and achieve positive outcomes for women and their children. The VWHA continues to use the same investment approach and currently owns 65 properties housing 175 women and children. SVA Consulting used a rigorous and accredited process to assess the SROI. The research approach and findings were verified in the United Kingdom by SROI Network UK which is the only global accredited SROI body. The SROI analysis, completed in early 2010, provided a rigorous and conservative measure of the impact of investment in VWHA projects at Roxburgh Park and Cairnlea, two outer metropolitan suburbs of Melbourne. These housing projects comprise 17 properties which housed 23 women and 29 children. Most of the women tenants in these properties came from situations of domestic violence or from the corrections system. The analysis found that four stakeholder groups gained positive social and economic impacts of the investment in affordable housing - the tenants, their children and families; investors in VWHA; federal and state government and community service organisations. Full details of the research and approach are provided in the body of this paper. The SROI analysis outcomes at a glance