SASC invests £5 million to help national mental health charity Making Space expand its housing services
Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC) has made a £5 million investment from its Social and Sustainable Housing Fund (SASH) in Making Space, a UK charity headquartered in Warrington that provides health and social care services.
The charity works with people with mental health problems, age-related issues and dementia. Their services include providing supported housing for those in need and on an individual or personal health budget.
The SASH loan will allow Making Space to buy 26 properties across four or more regions in the UK to grow their overall business and move away from rented properties into owned housing. This will increase their owned property portfolio by more than 40%. They already have three new projects underway in Stockport, Birkenhead and Cambridge.
This is the first time Making Space has used social investment. The SASH loan will give Making Space complete ownership and control over the properties they buy, which means they can ensure continuity of tenure and more stability for their long-term residents.
Making Space has been operating since 1982 and has supported more than 200,000 people across England. They employ over 1000 people and nearly 400 volunteers to deliver their vital services to these clients.
Rachel Peacock, CEO of Making Space said, “At Making Space, we fundamentally believe that the people we support should have a place to call home, and that without somewhere safe and decent to live, we can never achieve our vision of putting wellbeing at the heart of health and social care. As part of our strategic objective to deliver care for the future, we identified a need to explore more agile ways of meeting people’s housing needs.
“We are delighted and extremely thankful to SASC for awarding £5 million to support us in achieving our goals. This funding will give us the ability to be more responsive to providing personalised housing solutions for people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions, in areas where unmet needs have been identified.
“We will continue to support all our beneficiaries through our other housing routes including working with developers to build much needed supported housing accommodation and with registered social landlords as their care provider.”
Ben Rick, Managing Director, SASC said, “We’re delighted to invest in Making Space which will enable them to provide housing for more vulnerable people. This charity has helped many people with care and support needs lead independent and fulfilling lives, and has won awards and commendations for their work.
“Like many charities working in the supported housing sector they are moving away from the renting model to purchasing property. Social investment has enabled them to do this, and to create a more sustainable and secure future for both the charity and their residents.”
This is SASC’s 7th investment from the SASH fund, which has so far deployed over £38m since launching in May 2019. SASH was co-designed with borrower charities whose work with vulnerable people was being hampered through lack of access to safe, stable and appropriate homes.
For more information on SASC visit www.socialandsustainable.com
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About Social and Sustainable Capital
SASC provides simple finance for extraordinary charities and social enterprises. We believe greater access to the right kind of investment makes charities and social enterprises better able to tackle society’s most pressing challenges. Our funds provide flexible capital to enable social sector organisations to grow their social impact, improving the lives of disadvantaged people across the UK. SASC is a social enterprise.
