The Greater Manchester Pension Fund has pumped £100m into an investment fund developed and managed by Legal & General to deliver affordable homes across North West England.
The new regional vehicle is a structured extension to L&G’s flagship Affordable Housing Fund, which was launched last July to develop high-quality, sustainable affordable housing nationally. It is tailored specifically for the Northern Local Government Pension Scheme, of which GMPF is a member, to allow it to deploy capital into affordable housing development specifically in the North West.
The fund has already identified pipeline of new homes which will be developed and operated by Legal & General Affordable Homes.
Chair of the GMPF Eleanor Wills said: “We are acutely aware of the severe housing crisis both nationally and in the North West region. With record numbers of homeless children placed in temporary accommodation, the ever-growing waiting lists for social housing, and the younger generation being priced out of home ownership.
“This is why we are proud to continue our longstanding partnership with Legal & General to launch a specific vehicle for Northern LGPS that supports the government’s plan to provide much-needed affordable homes for hardworking families while ensuring strong, low-risk returns to secure the pensions of our members.”
Ali Farrell, fund manager at Legal & General, added: “This fund is the culmination of a long partnership with GMPF and reflects L&G’s commitment to delivering more affordable housing where it is most needed. This is a great example of partnership working between the public and private sectors to increase investment into the affordable housing sector, and increase the choice, quality and availability of affordable housing across North West England.”
The investment comes as Manchester City Council prepares to ask its executive to consider a range of land disposals across the city, which it believes could deliver more than 700 new affordable homes.
Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: “We are constantly reviewing what land opportunities are at our disposal to build much-need housing across a range of tenures and types to meet demand in a local area. These parcels of land will all deliver the homes we know these communities need, including significant affordable and social housing, but also specialist housing too.”
A report, set to go in front of the executive on Wednesday, outlines housing partnership plans for 10 brownfield sites across the city, including Grey Mare Lane, where 76 social houses could be delivered, the Apollo Pub in Miles Platting, which could be converted to a 31-home scheme, a site in Clayton where 12 supported accommodation homes are planned, the former Levenshulme Cricket Club, which has potential for 50 affordable homes, and the Peacock Centre in Gorton where some 70 affordable homes are planned.
Leader of the council Bev Craig said: “Building more affordable homes for Manchester residents is one of Manchester City Council’s biggest priorities and we have a massive housebuilding programme under way to build at least 10,000 genuinely affordable, council, social homes. We know that building these much-needed homes isn’t easy, so we have looked at how we can get the best use from land that the council owns to help us reach ambitious housing strategy.”
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