A fund which will invest in property to let to homeless people has attracted funding worth almost £57m, its managers announced today.

The Real Lettings Property Fund, which was launched early in 2013, describes itself as the largest impact investment fund in the UK. It is managed by social finance intermediary Resonance in partnership with homelessness charity St Mungo’s Broadway.

The fund buys properties which are let out by Real Lettings, a social lettings agency set up by St Mungo’s Broadway. Over the last two years the fund has bought, or is in the process of buying, 240 properties.

Of those, 120 properties have already been handed over to Real Lettings so they can be let, and around 50 are being refurbished.  So far, 230 people (including Faisal, pictured), have moved into a home with a secure tenancy.

The fund received four additional investments last week, three from new investors – Trust for London, Panahpur and a high net worth individual – and a fourth from Croydon Council, which was already an investor into the fund. In total those investments were worth £10.3m.

The fund is now closed to future investment.

In addition to acting as an investor, Croydon Council separately has an agreement to nominate tenants into the lettings service. Resonance is hoping to broker the same arrangement with other councils, and if it receives interest, may open other funds in London or elsewhere in the country.

Simon Chisholm, investment director at Resonance, said: “This is the first fund of its kind that has seen a local authority working with a social investment solution in order to address a local need.  The fund combines financial returns to investors with a focused social impact, breaking down barriers for those ready for independent living but excluded from the private rented sector.

“The successful final close at nearly £57m has proven that it can be scaled up effectively. We have done work to show that this model could be effective in other areas and we are now close to launching further similar initiatives with other local authorities across the UK.”

Previous investors in the fund include L&Q, Big Society Capital, the City of London Corporation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Lankelly Chase Foundation, and a private individual investor.

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