Legal & General announces today that its subsidiary Legal & General Affordable Homes Limited, launched in April 2018, has been granted Registered Provider (RP) status.
Registration by the Regulator of Social Housing represents a significant milestone in Legal & General Affordable Homes’ business plan, allowing it to hold and manage regulated affordable housing assets. The registration means Legal & General Affordable Homes can now significantly accelerate its business plan of developing, holding and managing a blend of affordable housing tenures where the regulated status is required. These include both social and affordable rent and shared ownership homes under grant-supported and Section 106 schemes.
With a growing crisis in the UK’s affordable housing sector and over 1.3 million households remaining on waiting lists, this registration is also a milestone for the sector, highlighting the important role institutional capital and new funding streams will have in increasing housing output to address this major societal issue.
Having undertaken a significant recruitment programme since launch, the realisation of RP status recognises the sector expertise and robust corporate governance brought in by Legal & General to support the acceleration and growth of the UK’s affordable housing provision.
Legal & General remains committed to working in close partnership with local authorities and leading existing affordable housing providers to deliver 3,000 homes per year within the next four years.
Simon Century, Head of Affordable Housing at Legal & General Capital, says:
“Affordable housing has been a classic example of where a lack of new capital has had a big impact on hampering overall provision. Over 1.3 million households are on social waiting lists and the required provision is rising year on year. This is not a sustainable position. We are therefore delighted that the Regulator of Social Housing has registered Legal & General Affordable Homes, enabling us to deliver our business plan and commitment to the sector to make a genuine contribution to increasing supply whilst advancing overall service delivery. We are very much looking forward to getting on with the job and working towards delivering our first sites soon.”