The UK's Patron Capital, alongside Resonance, has achieved the first close on its £100 mln (€109 mln) Women in Safe Homes fund.
According to Patron, this is the world’s first 'gender-lens' property fund and is an impact fund dedicated to the provision of secure accommodation for women experiencing homelessness, often having fled from domestic violence or after having been involved with the criminal justice system.
Big Society Capital, a leading UK social impact investor, Patron's MD Keith Breslauer and US investors, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Lostand Foundation are the first investors into the fund.
Launching with an initial investment of £15.5 mln, the fund is targeted to quickly scale in order to provide over 650 homes, the first of which will be purchased in January 2021.
At the same time, initial charity partners Preston Road Women’s Centre and Refuge will provide specialist and housing support to help women recover from abusive or difficult circumstances and Nacro will house women under its bail, accommodation and support service, enabling women to find stability and rebuild their lives, while helping them to sustain their tenancies.
Patron notes that this is a critical issue facing society, as even before the pandemic, 60% of women referred to specialist refuges were being turned away due to lack of space, while 38 of 45 service providers had reduced or suspended at least one service by April this year.
Two thirds of women in abusive relationships experienced an increase in violence as a direct result of lockdown.
The fund has been developed over more than two years in collaboration with leading women’s sector organisations and networks, including Women’s Aid, in order to ensure that it responds to the lived experience of women and the social enterprises who support them.
The fund is open to institutional, pension fund and professional investors in the UK and internationally.
