First investment from Social and Sustainable Housing fund
We are delighted to have made a £3m follow-on investment in Hull Women’s Network, a charity based at the award-winning Preston Road Women’s Centre in Hull, and existing SASC investee.
This is the first investment from SASC’s ground-breaking new £26m housing fund. Social and Sustainable Housing (SASH) was launched in May with commitments from 19 investors.
SASH has been co-designed with and for charities to enable them to purchase homes for vulnerable people. It offers an innovative investment proposition that has demonstrated appeal to both borrower charities and investors.
As a result of the investment, Hull Women’s Network (HWN) will be able to purchase 49 two to three bed properties to house women and children escaping domestic violence in Hull. The funding will increase the range of accommodation HWN can provide for women at different stages of their recovery journey and will include a mixture of supported accommodation and general needs housing.
This is the second time SASC has invested in HWN. Both investments enable the charity to purchase housing for women fleeing violence, pay for renovations and all legal and professional fees, and provides for a member of staff who coordinates the property purchases and gets them ready for tenants.
Lisa Hilder, Trustee at HWN, said,
“We are delighted to receive this major investment from the new SASH fund as it will have a huge impact on our beneficiaries. We’re seeing major demand for homes for women fleeing violence in Hull. Thanks to this investment, we will be able to provide immediate homes for women in crisis, as well as permanent accommodation for women who are recovering from abuse and moving on with their lives.”
She added,
“SASC has been a tremendous support to us. We have helped them create an innovative and bespoke loan structure, which was designed to meet our needs. They have shared the investment risk with us, and this has been critical to us being able to provide sustainable housing for women in need. Research tells us that women fleeing domestic violence are known to return to the perpetrator an average of seven times before finally breaking free from abuse. With access to safe, high quality housing, we can help them to break free from the abuse they suffer first time and this new investment will greatly help our mission.”
Ben Rick, Managing Director of SASC says,
“Hull Women’s Network is an inspiring charity which provides a lifeline for many women and their children in Hull. We are delighted to provide them with the first investment from our new SASH fund.
“We are proud to have created an innovative investment structure which appeals to both charities and investors. The fund will address a major social issue by increasing the stock of quality homes that will be available to communities for the long term. Since the launch, we have identified significant interest from charities who want to access the funds to purchase homes, and our fundraising efforts are ongoing to ensure we can respond to this demand.”
SASC is targeting a total fund size of £100m which will allow it to support 30 organisations, and to house 10,000 people over the next 10 years.
For media enquiries contact:
Kathryn Hughes, Kayak PR
Kathryn@kayakpr.co.uk
Tel: 07801 823 839
Jenny O’Donnell, Kayak PR
Tel: 07388 215 908
Email: jenny.odonnell@kayakpr.co.uk
