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Trio of London boroughs back rental scheme for homeless
Croydon, Lambeth and Westminster have backed a new £45m partnership to buy homes to rent to homeless people.
Between them the councils have lent £45m to fund manager Resonance and homelessness charity St Mungo’s for the second Real Lettings Property Fund, (RLPF2), which aims to buy homes to let to homeless individuals and families across London.
The fund follows on from an initial scheme launched in 2013 which saw £57m invested over two years. Croydon Council was an investor in the original Real Lettings Property Fund, and has returned as an investor in the second fund, while Lambeth and Westminster are new investors.
John Williams, senior investment manager at Resonance, said: “Resonance is always looking for new ways to connect real investment with good social enterprise. When things work well, we then look to replicate and scale those models to achieve greater impact, and bring social impact investment opportunities to a more diverse range of investors.
“These funds are sensible financial investments at a scale which institutional investors can engage with, and the impact model is measurable and working. This second fund will help thousands of formerly homeless tenants on a path to secure independent living in the future.”
Set up more than 10 years ago by St Mungo’s, the Real Lettings Property Fund provides a secure tenancy to those who would otherwise be in bed and breakfast emergency accommodation or hostels. As a homelessness charity, St Mungo’s can support tenants who are ready for this step into independent living and provide a helping hand to ensure the tenancy succeeds.
Susan Fallis, director of the Real Lettings Property Fund, said: “We are delighted to be working with Resonance on this second London fund since the first has been a great success in helping us grow this social enterprise model.
“The keys to that success are Resonance’s proven ability to source properties that are suitable for our tenants, at a price that makes sense from an investment perspective, and the close operational partnership which we have been able to build with our tenants to provide them with housing for up to three years, so they can build up tenancy histories that enable them to move on further into more long-term accommodation.”
