News26.03.24by James RidingA major bank has pledged to lend £5bn to the UK social housing sector over the next three years.NatWest’s headquarters in Bishopsgate, London (picture: Alamy)SharelinesA major bank has pledged to lend £5bn to the UK social housing sector over three years #UKhousing NatWest Group said its ambition would support housing providers and homeowners amid the current economic pressures.
The bank’s £5bn pledge covers new funding, gross of repayments and amortisations from January 1 2024 to year-end 2026.
It said the lending should help housing associations to deliver a pipeline of new homes and improve living conditions in existing properties. The money could also help landlords finance energy efficiency and retrofit upgrades. NatWest has completed nearly £3bn of new funding to help more people have access to housing in 2023. It currently supports around 200 housing associations across the UK.
In February 2021, the bank issued a £860m affordable housing social bond, the first of its kind by a UK bank, using the bond proceeds to finance or refinance loans to not-for-profit registered housing associations operating in the UK.
Under its Ulster Bank brand in Northern Ireland, the bank recently lent £70m to social housing developer Choice Housing. The developer plans to build nearly 1,000 new homes across Northern Ireland. In Scotland, the bank delivered a £96m loan to Aberdeen-based Grampian Housing Association to finance the development of 1,000 new homes in the region.
The bank is also working with Prince William’s Homewards programme, which aims to prevent homelessness in six locations around the UK. The five-year programme is working with NatWest Group’s regional boards and at a national level to offer support and expertise to help prevent homelessness.
Robert Begbie, chief executive of commercial and institutional banking at NatWest Group, said: “Against a backdrop of inflation and rising living costs, pressures on the housing sector and homeowners have increased.
“These increasing costs reduce the capacity to deal with other priorities such as new and upgraded housing, and tackling the critical challenges of energy efficiency, fire and tenant safety.”
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