Schroders Capital and its partner Civitas Investment Management has had the third and final closing of their Social Supported Housing Fund with aggregate equity commitments of €224m (£192m). The Fund’s social impact strategy will help alleviate a pressing social issue in the UK by contributing exclusively to the supply of newly built social supported housing to ease the considerable shortfall in the provision of these properties. The JV will forward-fund the development of new specialist supported housing units in the UK, purpose-built to provide safe, lifelong homes for adults with significant physical and mental health conditions.
Planning consent is secured ahead of any investment and assets are pre-let on a long-term basis with specialist housing associations and designed for the long-term provision of bespoke adapted homes. Funding is sourced ultimately from the central government as part of the commitment to support vulnerable adults to live within their own communities.
Robin Hubbard, Head of Real Estate Capital at Schroders, commented: “We are delighted to have raised almost €233.3m (£200m) for Schroders’ first social impact real estate development strategy. This follows on from the successful IPO of the Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust PLC in the public market at the end of last year. With leverage, the Fund will have over €350m (£300m) of capital to invest of which more than €175m (£150m) is already invested or committed to projects. This success highlights investors’ interest in Schroders and Civitas’ capabilities in this field and that impact has risen up investors’ agendas over the last year, not just in the UK but globally, as fiduciaries, as well as their underlying beneficiaries and policyholders, seek social and environmental returns alongside financial targets. Prominent investors with an impact-focused commitment include The Church Commissioners for England and Jonathan Rose, a highly respected developer of innovative housing communities in the US, through his Lostand foundation.”
Andrew Dawber, Group Director at Civitas Investment Management Limited, commented: “This final closing is a major milestone for CIM’s partnership with Schroders. SoHo’s prime objective is creating new specialist property supply for some of the most vulnerable individuals in society and with 11 schemes already operational and another 50 in the pipeline, the Fund looks set to generate genuine ‘additionality’, alongside an attractive risk-adjusted return. We are delighted to welcome new investors to the Fund and believe that despite the challenges associated with investors undertaking on-site due diligence during the ongoing pandemic, the considerable demand reflects the attractiveness of this asset class and its positive social impact credentials to institutional investors. CIM and Schroders are firm believers in the power of private capital to influence and deliver positive changes to society.”
