The British Property Federation (BPF) has launched an affordable-housing committee to 鈥減rovide leadership鈥� for the real estate industry in what has become a growing area for institutional investors.
Rob Beiley, partner of Trowers & Hamlins, and Simon Century, director of build-to-rent and affordable homes at Legal & General, have been appointed chair and vice chair, respectively.
Beiley and Century will lead an agenda 鈥渢o maximise the real estate industry鈥檚 investment in affordable housing, and ensure better understanding within central and regional governments of the opportunities that the industry can offer to expand its provision of affordable homes鈥�.
The committee will champion investment in high quality, diverse and sustainable affordable homes and will explore how the real estate indsutry can complement the work of housing associations and local authorities.
It will also lead the UK real estate industry鈥檚 responses to affordable housing-related government consultations and look to improve communication with the government and related institutions.
Beiley has more than 20 years鈥� experience advising housing associations, local authorities, developers and institutional investors, and Century joined Legal & General in 2016 to lead investment in the rental housing sector, before going on to found Legal & General Affordable Homes.
The committee鈥檚 members include:
- Julia Bevan, Grainger
- Chris Jeffs, M&G Real Estate
- Peter Quinn, Watkin Jones
- Charles Cleal, JLL
- Charles Crowe, PGIM Real Estate
- Natalia Kolotneva, LaSalle Investment Management
- Catherin Webster, Quintain
- Matthew Chillingworth, Federated Hermes
- Olivia Harris, Dolphin Living
- Tom Paul, Optivo
- Debi Marriott-Lavery, Places for People
- Kush Rawal, Metropolitan Thames Valley
- Thomas Mudd, CBRE
- Shamez Alibhai, Man GPM
- Claire Kober, Pinnacle Group
A growing number of affordable UK housing funds have been launched over the past two years. Today, PGIM Real Estate announced it had made its first investment for its affordable-housing fund backed by Northern LGPS and Brunel Pension Partnership.
鈥淲e have seen exponential growth in the real estate industry鈥檚 investment in affordable housing in recent years and I know that the industry has the capacity to deliver more,鈥� said Beiley.
鈥淚 am grateful to have the support of such a highly experienced committee and together we look forward to working with government to maximise the opportunities that the industry has to deliver much-needed affordable housing at scale.鈥�
Century said: 鈥淭he pandemic has affected every corner of our lives and had a major impact on what we need from our homes and communities.
鈥淚n particular, it has brought into even sharper focus the urgent need to provide stable and affordable homes for millions of households across the country.
鈥淎s ever increasingly levels of long-term capital seek to enter, now is the perfect time to be bringing together like-minded housing associations, institutions and advisers who can work with government to help tackle the huge supply, funding and sustainability issues the sector faces.鈥�
Melanie Leech, CEO of the BPF, said: 鈥淭he real estate industry鈥檚 investment plays a significant role in the provision of affordable homes in the UK, yet this is poorly understood and there remain significant opportunities to maximise our industry鈥檚 investment into this sector.
鈥淚 am delighted Rob and Simon have accepted to lead the charge for our new affordable housing committee. We look forward to working with them to ensure our industry more effectively communicates with the government to unlock future growth in this sector, which will be fundamental to the government鈥檚 ambitions to create a housing market that works for everyone.
鈥淓veryone deserves a safe and comfortable place to call home and, while there is no silver bullet to fix the acute challenges facing the UK鈥檚 housing market, we will need every housing sector 鈥� from homes for sale, buy-to-let, build-to-rent to retirement living, student accommodation and affordable housing 鈥� firing on all cylinders.鈥�
