£4.5m social investment fund to launch for homelessness sector

Melanie May | 25 May 2017 | News

• Tagged with:
• funding
• grants

A £4.5 million social investment fund launches next month for charities and social enterprises across England working to reduce homelessness.
Homeless Link is behind the fund, which is exclusively for the homelessness sector, and will offer organisations unsecured loans of amounts between £25,000 and £150,000 over the next three years.
Its aim is to test and learn where social investment can be most effectively used alongside other forms of funding to improve outcomes. It is specifically looking to support organisations to:

• Increase the homelessness sector’s knowledge and experience of social investment
• Develop new models for income generation and funding
• Improve their long-term sustainability

Homeless Link will introduce the fund to the sector at an event on Monday 19 June in Central London. The programme is funded by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, through its Growth Fund.
Mark McPherson, director of strategy and innovation at Homeless Link, said:

“This fund is an exciting initiative, and we hope that the investments will unlock innovative ways of working with people experiencing homelessness, and help to put the recipient organisations on a sustainable footing. Importantly, the programme will also help feed in to the bigger picture of how different funding mechanisms can work for homelessness services.
“Social investment is increasingly being explored and used in the non-profit sector, offering a balance of accountability for results, and flexibility around use and repayment. Homeless Link intends to lead the way in understanding the role of social investment in our sector so that we can continue to support our members’ development.”

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Places for the launch event can be booked on the Homeless Link site until 16^th June.
 

About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.