Avon Pension Fund, a £6 billion local government pension scheme serving Bristol, Bath, and surrounding areas, is investing £50 million into affordable housing.
The investment, funded through the Octopus Affordable Housing Fund, will fund around 250 new homes for up to 1,000 people. Around 20 per cent of the new homes will be constructed in the Avon region, which includes Bristol, Bath, North East Somerset, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire.
The investment is part of the fund’s £175 million local impact portfolio. This commitment to affordable housing follows a £50 million investment in local renewable infrastructure last year, made in partnership with five other Local Government Pension Schemes.
Avon Pension Fund Committee vice chair and councillor Shaun Stephenson-McGall says: “We are delighted to be investing in affordable housing and delivering meaningful societal change where it is so desperately needed. We’ve made significant progress in a very short space of time, making this commitment just months after deploying £50m capital into local renewable energy.
“Our investment will help raise the local supply of affordable housing, for those that need it most including middle-income families and key workers, while also delivering steady inflation-linked rental income, with capital growth, enabling the Fund to meet future pension promises.”
Octopus head of affordable housing Jack Burnham says: “We’re delighted to be working with Avon Pension Fund, not just to provide affordable homes across the UK, but to also use a portion of their investment to help Avon deliver much needed affordable homes in their own area. It’s great to see how our Affordable Housing Fund’s innovative place-based co-investment offer has provided Avon with a solution to deliver local impact.”