Patron Capital has launched a new affordable housing joint venture with Oak Housing and its shareholders Bmor and T&B Capital. The joint venture is looking to acquire up to €115.5m (£100m) of assets, with a target investment size of between €11.5m (£10m) and €23m (£20m), and an initial focus on London boroughs in order to address the lack of good quality homeless accommodation and affordable housing.
The joint venture will look to acquire and convert suitable properties for the provision of general needs homelessness, temporary housing, section 106, keyworker and shared ownership opportunities. It has completed its first acquisition through the purchase of Kings Paget Hotel in West Drayton, Hillingdon. The 14,000ft² former hotel was acquired for €4.6m (£4m) and will be refurbished and repurposed for use as high-quality affordable housing by public sector partners.
Keith Breslauer, Managing Director of Patron Capital, said: “Social purpose is a core pillar to Patron Capital, both in how we do business and in our philanthropic efforts, so this joint venture with Oak Housing was a natural next step for us. With more than 84,000 households in temporary accommodation in England and 1 in 53 people in London impacted by homelessness, it has never been more important to align our business activity with the needs of those around us, and we look forward to working with Oak as we build our portfolio in this space.”
Lanek Banga, chief executive officer of Oak Housing, said: “The last 12 months has been one of the most challenging environments the sector has seen in generations, and over this time it has become clear to us that great quality affordable housing is the bed rock of creating safe, healthy communities. This has inspired us to do more. To this end, we are delighted to be entering into partnership with Patron Capital to increase our portfolio of affordable homes across the country.”
