Royal Bank of Scotland makes fresh £10 billion social housing pledge
“Delivering this milestone a full year ahead of schedule demonstrates our commitment to making a real difference in people’s lives” – Paul Thwaite, CEO
NatWest Group’s chief executive has hailed a social housing milestone as the banking giant sets out a new £10 billion funding goal.
Paul Thwaite said the lender had achieved a £7.5bn target a year ahead of schedule as it looks to support the delivery and maintenance of social housing across the UK.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), part of NatWest Group, has now announced an updated package of £10bn of investment in the UK social housing sector before the end of 2028, which, when deployed, will bring the total funding to more than £35bn since 2018.
RBS said it was looking to support the building of new homes, the upgrading of existing properties, and improving general living conditions.
Some of the lending will help fund energy efficiency and environmental improvements, including retrofit projects. Other funding is being made available to housing associations to deliver a pipeline of new homes and improve living conditions in existing properties.
Thwaite said: “We are incredibly proud to announce the early achievement of our £7.5bn UK social housing lending ambition. Delivering this milestone a full year ahead of schedule demonstrates our commitment to making a real difference in people’s lives by investing in the homes and communities that need it most, and shows the demand in the market.
“Reaching this lending ambition early has enabled us to set a new target of £10bn to year-end 2028, so we can continue to provide social housing lending and play our part in supporting the development and availability of affordable and social rent homes across the UK.”
The announcement forms part of the bank’s new five point “Growing Together” plan, setting out how it will help build the conditions for UK wide growth - backing “powerful regions”, championing mid-market companies, strengthening the country’s infrastructure and housing foundations, boosting financial confidence among families and young people, and “supporting the innovators shaping the future economy”.
In addition to these commitments, last year RBS announced several other initiatives and partnerships that have complemented and contributed to its social housing lending ambition being achieved. These include a financial guarantee of up to £400 million from the National Wealth Fund to cover a series of new loans from the bank to registered providers of social housing stock in the UK.
The group also launched a new social rent loan product to support housing associations, which are already RBS customers, to support the construction of social rent houses across the UK. In December, this fund was doubled to £1bn in response to strong demand and to help continue the delivery of homes for social rent across the country.
RBS recently announced £20m in additional lending to Fife-based Kingdom Housing Association (KHA) - one of Scotland’s largest registered social landlords that manages some 7,000 homes, providing a range of housing, care and support services. The fresh funding will help deliver 170 new energy efficient homes in Fife and Perth and Kinross and builds on existing lending to KHA from the bank which now totals £61m.
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