Investment opportunities
In April 2024 the Scottish Government created a Housing Investment Taskforce to identify actions that will unlock existing and new commitments to investment in housing.
As well as the private investment that supports the main affordable housing supply programme, we support additional delivery routes to increase the supply of new homes.
Examples of our initiatives
Supporting the delivery of mid-market rent (MMR)
MMR is a type of affordable housing where rents are higher than social rents but lower than private rents. We continue to support the delivery of MMR through the mainstream grant funded Affordable Housing Supply Programme, as well as on going management of long-term loans.
Our £55 million loan to LAR Housing Trust, which was made available in 2015, enabled them to attract an additional £65 million of private investment in 2016.
Our £47.5 million loan to Places for People Capital, which was made available in June 2018, has enabled them to attract an additional £175 million of private investment to 31 March 2024. Places for People Capital rebranded to Thriving Investments in October 2023.
This has created a total investment of £342.5 million to deliver more than 1,700 affordable MMR homes across Scotland.
|
Provider |
Public Investor |
£m |
Private/External Investor |
£m |
Total £m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
LAR Housing Trust |
Scottish Government |
55 |
Scottish Widows via Bank of Scotland |
65 |
120 |
|
Thriving Investments MMR Fund
|
Scottish Government
|
47.5
|
Castle Rock Edinvar |
10 |
222.5 |
|
Nationwide Pension Fund |
60 |
||||
|
Strathclyde Pension Fund |
45 |
||||
|
Scottish National Investment Bank |
60 |
||||
Total |
102.5 |
|
240 |
342.5 |
|
Find out more about the proposal and read the news release.
Charitable bonds
The Scottish charitable bond model provides loans to registered social landlords for the development of new affordable homes. It also generates instant capital funds in the form of charitable donations. These charitable donations are used as housing grant for the provision of new affordable housing.
We have invested over £460 million in 38 bonds, generating over £141 million in charitable donations since 2014.
The charitable bond programme is managed by Allia C&C, a social investment organisation.
National Housing Trust initiative (NHT)
Developed in 2010, NHT used a guarantee-based model which guaranteed money borrowed by local authorities to help deliver affordable housing for between 5 and 10 years. This helped to support developers and wider economic activity during the financial downturn.
NHT made an important contribution of over 1,700 new affordable mid-market rent homes and is estimated to have helped unlock an investment package of over a quarter of a billion pounds over its lifetime.
The majority of these homes have now exited NHT with most having been retained within the affordable housing sector. NHT will be evaluated in 2024.