The Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) has invested £120m into Legal & General’s Affordable Housing Fund, boosting the fund’s total commitment to £280m.
The investment is part of GMPF’s longstanding strategy to address the urgent need for affordable housing in England. GMPF, which manages some £29.4bn in assets has invested 5 percent of its assets in an Impact Investment Portfolio.
Roughly a quarter of the Impact Investment Portfolio has been allocated to housing investments, funding close to 4,400 new homes which have either been completed, planned or are in development.
Legal & General, in collaboration with GMPF, launched the Affordable Housing Fund in July, aiming to increase the supply of affordable homes across the UK. The partnership, which spans over two decades, highlights the critical role of institutional capital in addressing the UK’s housing crisis.
With 1.3m households currently on local authority waiting lists in England, the fund will focus on developing well-designed, energy-efficient homes for social rent, affordable rent, and shared ownership. Legal & General’s strategy aligns with the UK government’s priority to expedite the delivery of affordable housing, emphasizing the importance of public and private sector collaboration.
Councillor Gerald Cooney, who acts as a chair of GMPF commented on the tangible impact of the housing crisis in Manchester: “As a leader of a Council, as well as a chair of a pension fund I know the depth of the housing crisis in which we find ourselves as a nation. We see it as we place record numbers of homeless children in temporary accommodation; as we grapple with waiting lists for social housing getting longer and longer; and younger residents are priced out of home ownership” he stressed.
The investment brings & General’s total commitment to affordable housing to £1 billion since 2018.
