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Former CIH boss joins board of supported housing fund
Terrie Alafat and Caroline Pillay have joined the board of Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC), the manager of a fund set up to help charities deliver supported housing.
Ms Alafat was chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) until she retired in November last year, and prior to that director of housing at the then Department for Communities and Local Government.
Ms Pillay is a senior partner at consultancy Airey Miller and founder and chair of the Councils Building Homes Forum, as well as chair of Lambeth Council’s company Homes for Lambeth.
SASC claims its Social and Sustainable Housing Fund is the only one to invest directly into frontline housing charities to help them acquire homes to accommodate people with complex support needs.
It has attracted £58m in commitments since launching in summer 2019, securing new fundraising last week.
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Ms Alafat said: “There is growing need for social investment and for SASC’s work, particularly in supported housing where services are in great demand but where it is very difficult for organisations to access funding.
“I will be using my experience to help SASC grow their housing fund further and to help them achieve greater impact.
“My goal is to increase awareness in housing about the benefits of social investment, so I will focus on capacity building and educating people about the benefits, risks and opportunities involved to encourage more successful investments.”
Ms Pillay’s role on the board will be to focus on maximising the impact of SASC’s investments.
She said: “There is a real and long-standing funding gap in supported housing, and I am delighted that SASC is focused on addressing the problem.
“There is a lot of attention on funding mainstream housing, but not enough on the provision for disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals and families.
“Supported housing is a sector that needs carefully designed funding solutions. As a board member at SASC, I want to help it grow its housing fund and build its profile to enable SASC to be recognised in the mainstream for its work.”
Nat Sloane, chair of SASC, said: “We are delighted and very fortunate to be able to welcome Terrie and Caroline to our board, particularly at this very important stage of our growth.
“Both have considerable experience in housing and believe in the SASH mission.
“With their support we believe SASC can grow its housing fund to meaningful scale, generating significant social impact alongside attractive financial returns.”
Organisations such as homelessness and domestic abuse charities can access up to £5m through the Social and Sustainable Housing fund to purchase, renovate and adapt properties to house their clients.
Over 10 years, the charities can take rental income from the homes, allowing them to secure separate finance, while SASC absorbs the risk.
At the end of that period, the organisations can either pay SASC 85% of what the homes are worth or hand back the keys to the properties.
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