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Investment giant registers for-profit registered provider
A subsidiary of London-based investment fund Man GPM RI Community Housing Fund has completed the registration of a for-profit provider of social housing.
Habitare Homes, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Man GPM RI Community Housing Fund, was registered with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) on 1 April 2021 with the aim of providing 3,500 mixed-tenure homes by 2026.
The landlord will sit within the Man GPM RI Community Housing Fund, which was unveiled earlier this month. The fund received backing worth £20m from Homes England and further investment from various pension schemes, raising £400m in total.
Habitare Homes will be focused on addressing the shortage of new, high-quality housing that is affordable to those earning the median income and below, including young families and key workers.
Inside Housing previously reported that Man Group planned to enter the social housing space following the appointment of Shamez Alibhai as head of community housing and portfolio manager in 2019.
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Commenting on the registration of the for-profit today, Mr Alibhai said: “It’s vital for the private sector to demonstrate a commitment to social outcomes and have a thorough, documented and robust impact framework against which progress is independently assessed by third-party specialists.”
The fund has also contracted New Philanthropy Capital and the Sheffield Hallam Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research to measure the fund’s impact in delivering positive outputs and outcomes.
Man Group, which has $127bn worth of assets under management, follows in the steps of Legal & General, Blackstone-backed Sage Housing and M&G Investment in registering a for-profit provider.
Analysis by the RSH found that social housing owned by for-profit providers increased by 75% in the year to March 2020.
To date the fund has committed to 363 new homes and announced its first transaction in December 2020 when it agreed a £31m deal with modular house builder Ilke Homes.
The firm also signed a £12m deal for the delivery of 41 homes in East Sussex and has acquired 95 homes from Crest Nicholson in Cambridgeshire.
Katrina Laud, chair of Habitare Homes, said: “Habitare is delighted to play a positive role in the much-needed supply of additional, high-quality, affordable homes in the UK.
“Our aim is to help as many people as possible find a place to call home and have a positive lived experience. We are focused on creating value for all our stakeholders – residents, partners, investors and the wider communities in which we operate.”
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