Housing

The newly elected government has met leading figures from the country’s impact investment sector in a bid to mobilise funding for housing and other social priorities.

Social infrastructure plays a key role in the long-term asset allocation of the UK’s local government pension funds, according to a new study.

Commitments from several regional pension schemes have boosted the fund’s capacity to invest in the development and acquisition of affordable housing in the UK, where there is an acute shortage.

London CIV, Big Society Capital and Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust among investors behind the £123m first close of Savills’ Simply Affordable Homes fund which aims to help tackle the country’s rental crisis.

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A £10m commitment from the social impact investor bolsters a fund expected to finance thousands of new homes and which has now made its first deployment.

There is massive shortage of affordable housing in the UK and the characteristics of the asset class are ideal for institutional investors. Pension funds are attracted to the prospect of stable long-term income to match liabilities.