• Gloucestershire Pension Fund invests £30m into Resonance National Homelessness Property Fund 2 (NHPF2)
• NHPF2 will buy circa 90 homes in Gloucestershire to house individuals and families who are currently living in unsuitable Temporary Accommodation 
• ​​​​​NHPF2 will lease the homes to Developing Health and Independence, who will provide wrap-around support to tenants.

Resonance, one of the UK's leading social impact investors, has announced that Gloucestershire Pension Fund (GPF) has invested £30m into its National Homelessness Property Fund 2 (NHPF2). 

£20m of this investment will be invested directly into immediately buying and refurbishing around 90 properties in Gloucestershire, helping the region cut the number of households in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

Known as homelessness property funds, the model operates by attracting capital from institutional investors, such as pension funds to acquire properties, refurbish them to a high standard, improve their energy efficiency and lease them to expert housing partners, such as homelessness charities and housing associations. 

Tenants are provided with stable, affordable accommodation in safe areas in the heart of local communities.

Tenants in Gloucestershire will receive support with their health, wellbeing and in seeking employment and training opportunities. This support will be provided by Developing Health and Independence (DHI), who will lease the properties from the fund.[1]

Chris Cullen, Head of Homelessness Property Funds at Resonance, said: “There are over 117,000 households living in temporary accommodation across England, including over 130,000 dependent children, and this number continues to rise. 

“We are very grateful for Gloucestershire Pension Fund’s place-based investment into National Homelessness Property Fund 2, which illustrates the difference that local government pension funds can make to the area in which their members live. 

He continued: “It will enable us to provide much needed homes in Gloucestershire for some of those households that are in temporary accommodation and that don’t have a place to call home.” 

Across all of Gloucestershire Local Authorities there were, as of March 2024, 315 households in Temporary Accommodation, including nearly 200 in Gloucester City alone.

This news comes as many councils grapple with mounting financial pressures, with £2.29bn spent a year on providing emergency temporary accommodation to homeless households, an increase of 29% from the previous twelve months.[1]

Rosie Phillips, CEO at DHI, commented: “As a social inclusion charity, the provision of safe affordable housing is of paramount importance. Housing is the single biggest cost pressure on struggling individuals and families and lack of affordable housing causes stress, inequality and poor health. 

“Without a secure place to live, progress in other aspects of life will be poor. A safe place to call home provides people with a platform on which to build their lives.”

She went on to add: “It is great to be able to work in partnership with Resonance on this initiative, which aligns with our approach of helping people to achieve their potential from the foundations up, while improving health and wellbeing and reducing inequalities and disadvantage in communities.”

NHPF2 operates across England and, including this investment, has to date raised c£129m, and purchased over 350 homes, housing almost 500 tenants who were facing a housing crisis. 

This latest £30m investment will help provide homes for potentially 750 individuals and families over the lifetime of the fund.

Institutional investors into the fund include other pension funds, such as Greater Manchester Pension Fund, and several local authorities.

Notes
For media enquiries or further information, please contact:
Paul Handford – [email protected]

About Resonance & NHPF2
Launched in 2002 with the mission of connecting capital to social enterprise, Resonance is a social impact property fund manager. 

Resonance provides life changing homes and solutions for people and communities facing crisis. Through our pioneering social impact residential property funds, we work with institutional investors and expert housing partners to provide safe, affordable homes with wrap around support. 

Since our first property fund launched in 2013, we have helped to provide homes for over 3400 individuals and families in over 1000 properties across many major cities across the UK.

It is proud to be a B Corp and its 20+ year track record of impact investing.

NHPF2 was launched in 2020 and, to date, has raised £129m from institutional investors. It currently operates in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Bristol, Oxford and London and has over 350 properties with expert housing partners supporting nearly 500 individuals and families.

The fund is aiming to purchase family and one-bedroom homes – including from portfolio purchases – across the UK.

About Gloucestershire Pension FundThe Gloucestershire Pension Fund provides death and retirement benefits for local government employees (other than teachers, police officers and firefighters) in Gloucestershire and employees of other qualifying bodies which provide similar services. The fund size is c£3.42bn. As of 31 March 2024, it had approximately 60,000 members and almost 250 employers across Gloucestershire.

About DHI
DHI is a social inclusion charity founded in 1999, with a vision to end social exclusion by ensuring that everyone has their basic needs met and the opportunity to achieve their potential. DHI supports those excluded from society as a result of poverty, deprivation, abuse or neglect, to turn their lives around and thrive, contributing to the health of individuals and communities.  

Last year, DHI supported over 18,000 people last year overcome barriers to independence such as poor housing and homelessness, harmful alcohol or drug use, mental ill-health, offending and lack of opportunity and employable skills, as well as to develop social capital and emotional resilience. Every day people can and do turn their lives around, and very often they go on to make a significant contribution to society through volunteering and helping others.

[1] Crisis report - Council spending on emergency accommodation tops £2.2bn