James Palmer

When James Palmer was interviewed on RNZ in June 2025, after receiving two ethical investment awards, it didn’t matter that radio comes to us without pictures: his smile was practically audible.

James, a law and political science alumnus of the University of Auckland, is chief executive and founder of companies Community Finance and Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA). The former manages money that the latter channels to the Salvation Army and 13 other social housing providers that support the 21,000 Aotearoa households struggling to put a roof over their heads.

The awards – for best new ethical investment fund and best impact investment fund – given out by charity Mindful Money, which exposes where funds put their money, were the icing on the cake for James. Earlier in the year the government committed $150 million to CHFA to lend at below-market interest rates to community housing providers for home-building and rent subsidies.

As James told RNZ’s Jesse Mulligan, that would allow CHFA, the government, philanthropists, banks and KiwiSaver providers to “all come together, pool our resources and then provide loans to these charities at a much lower cost than banks”.

It is the pinnacle of his organisations’ achievements to date.

“We have notched up a number of firsts when it comes to impact investing, raising hundreds of millions of dollars for charities, bringing different sectors together and helping enact policy change from government.

“But the big one was securing government support. The $150 million facility for CHFA will help us to deliver billions of dollars more efficiently in the future. The day we learned we had secured that support, 28 February, is one we won’t forget.”

How did James, who says he left school with no great confidence in his abilities, go on to complete two university degrees and inject social-good values in the deeply conservative finance sector? He says it was university that gave him a personal shot in the arm.

“Probably the biggest thing it provided me with was confidence. I didn’t have that from high school. With great professors, courses that inspired me and meeting other students who shared my interests, it opened my eyes to what I could accomplish.”

He was initially surprised when he began getting great results.

“I hadn’t known what I was capable of before university. It gave me a foundation of confidence that enabled me to innovate and disrupt an entire sector of our country and reject the status quo.”

Not that he thinks confidence is all it takes.

“On its own it is never enough. You need experience, training, resilience and discipline and both degrees helped teach me those essential skills as well.”

He has encountered his share of sceptics.

“I constantly faced smart, well-educated, deeply experienced people along the way telling us we would not succeed and that change like this was impossible. We have faced many hurdles, but the successes only followed through sheer grit and belief in our work to transform.”

Apart from the boost university gave him, James says his home background – he worked for a time in his father’s law firm – set his course for him.

“My family instilled in me the value of supporting others and the importance of justice and standing up for what’s right.”

He has nothing less than fixing the country’s housing shortcomings in his sights.

“With my team and our backers, who include such amazing Kiwis as the Tindalls, Lindsays, Edgars and Anna Stuck, we have a lofty goal of helping New Zealand tackle and beat its affordable housing crisis. This requires system change and will take billions of dollars. It’s improbable but possible – and we believe entirely necessary – for the sake of our people and the next generation.”