Tens of thousands of new homes are set to be built across Britain funded by over half a billion pounds worth of impact investments announced today.
Impact investment, whereby a fund creates beneficial social or environmental impact, has now grown to £76.8 billion in the UK in assets under management.
Coming the day after the Prime Minister announced £63 billion of investment into Britain at the International Investment Summit, the commitment from three major financial institutions to invest for impact will directly tackle the most acute housing crisis in living memory, which includes at least 5,000 new homes to address social inequality.
The announcement comes as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones this morning hosted a roundtable with some of the biggest impact investors in the world, including Schroders, M&G, International Bank of America, Blackrock and Barclays, as the Government looks to create the right environment for impact investment across the country.
BETTER BRITAIN
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones (main picture)says: “Investors tell us they want to help in delivering a better Britain.
“Working in partnership with government, social impact investing can change people’s lives and improve communities across the country.
“We are dedicated to creating the right environment for impact investment across the country, and the announcement of over half a billion pounds worth of impact investment building tens of thousands of new homes is a great example of the change that we are delivering on.”
INNOVATIVE
Nathan Emerson, Chief Executive of Propertymark, says: “Impact investment funding is certainly one innovative method that can help unlock the potential for new homes across the country, especially as many developers have pledged to support this measure.
“However, it would be good to see more detail behind these plans as this may help to deliver the ambitious target of nearly two million homes that the UK Government has pledged to build by the end of this parliament.
“We eagerly await more details in the UK Government’s upcoming Budget about how any housebuilding will be funded, alongside a timetable for the enactment of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that intends to reform the planning system to make it easier to build these desperately needed homes.”
