James Palmer

Trained as a lawyer, James Palmer was soon drawn to the world of finance and using business to deliver positive impact at scale. James founded Community Finance in 2019 after getting frustrated at the constraints of traditional philanthropy and the limits of government housing policy. Along with subsidiary, Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA), James has built a financial model that makes social impact investable, efficient, and sustainable.

For James, the foundation was seeing New Zealanders hamstrung by an affordable housing crisis that was stifling productivity and hope, stopping skilled workers from moving here, and creating social inequality and harm. He believed there were ways to create an entity that bridged both state intervention and traditional philanthropy.

Rather than viewing charities as risk, James saw them as underutilised partners, and launched a platform to connect capital with Community Housing Providers, offering low-cost finance at scale. Under his leadership, the company has grown from start-up to sector leader, delivering over $300 million to help build affordable homes across Aotearoa.

In 2025, the Government partnered with Community Housing Funding Agency as its key housing finance partner. Growth for CHFA isn’t just measured in internal financials - it’s seen in the savings unlocked for charities they lend to, the taxpayer savings from lowering the cost of finance to those charities, and the strong returns delivered for bondholders, typically KiwiSaver providers. It’s a model that proves impact and financial performance can go hand in hand.

James’ focus now is on scale, and to prove that purpose-built finance can reshape the way a nation tackles its biggest challenges, delivering social impact through financing affordable homes across Aotearoa.