The impact investor has collaborated with a social inclusion charity in Bristol to provide wrap around support for tenants in its refurbished homes.
UK impact investor Resonance said two of its homelessness funds, whose investors include pension funds and local authorities, had invested £23m to date into housing people in Bristol.
Resonance’s National Homelessness Property Funds 1 and 2 have purchased 136 properties to provide more sustainable accommodation for 530 people who had been homeless or living in unsuitable temporary accommodation in the city, which is located in southwest England.
More widely, the funds have allowed Resonance to acquire properties across the UK, helping to provide homes for a total of more than 3,400 individuals and families in over 1,000 properties, since it launched its first property fund in 2013, according to the investor.
Resonance refurbishes properties, improves their energy efficiency and then leases them to partners, such as housing associations and homelessness charities. Tenants then receive wrap-around support for their often-complex needs.
In Bristol, tenants in Resonance’s properties receive support with health, wellbeing and employment and training opportunities from Developing Health & Independence (DHI), a social inclusion charity. DHI said that in 2024 its activities overall supported over 18,000 people in overcoming barriers to independence, such as poor housing or homelessness, alcohol or drug abuse, mental health issues, criminality and a lack of opportunity or skills.
Daniel Brewer, CEO of Resonance, noted that Bristol had the highest rate of homelessness in southwest England, with over 15,800 households in the city living in temporary accommodation.
Housing shortage
In 2024, homelessness charity Crisis estimated councils in England were paying a combined £2.29bn a year to provide temporary accommodation – a cost which Brewer said was not sustainable.
“Our homelessness property funds are an example of how social impact and local institutional investment can make a difference to an area’s housing crisis and provide positive outcomes for tenants, whilst also saving local authorities and central government valuable money,” Brewer said.
Earlier this year, Impact Investor spoke to Chris Cullen, head of homelessness property funds at Resonance, on progress with the funds. He said the next iteration of its property fund could be evergreen, rather than closed end, in response to consultations with its investors.
Investors in the property funds include English regional authorities, local government pension schemes and social investors, including Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Bristol City Council and Better Society Capital. In January, Gloucestershire Pension Fund invested £30m in NHPF2.
The UK’s Labour government has been keen to enlist the support of social impact investors to tackle social issues such as homelessness at a time when it is attempting to rein in public spending. In February, the government launched a Social Impact Advisory Group of stakeholders in the impact investment sector to help develop new social impact vehicles, which includes socially-motivated investors, banks, civil society and social investment experts.
Darren Jones, the UK’s chief secretary to the Treasury, as well as being a member of parliament for a Bristol constituency, recently visited those involved with the fund in the city.
Among those he met was Bruno, a tenant since September, who had a long history of rough sleeping, living in temporary accommodation, poor mental health and drug use. Resonance said that, since moving into his new home in September, and with support from DHI, he was becoming abstinent from drugs, his mental health had improved, and he was now carrying out volunteer work.
