Housing association agree £75 million funding deal with Lloyds and NatWest
Yorkshire Housing, the largest housing association based solely in Yorkshire, has secured a £75 million funding deal with banking giants Lloyds and NatWest to support its future growth and investment plans.
The deal includes a new £40 million sustainability-linked loan from Lloyds and £35 million from NatWest, which will help the association continue building affordable, sustainable, and high-quality homes across the region.
Lloyds’ contribution includes a tailored sustainability-linked loan, offering Yorkshire Housing the opportunity to earn discounts on the loan if it meets specific targets. These targets focus on delivering new affordable homes, upgrading existing properties to an EPC rating of C or higher by 2030, and increasing the installation of solar PV systems.
The new funding from NatWest builds on the bank’s long-standing relationship with Yorkshire Housing which has seen NatWest provide short and long-term funding solutions to support the associations growth and sustainability goals.
NatWest has recently announced its new ambition of lending £7.5 billion to the social housing sector between 1 January 2024 and year to end 2026. The number has been upgraded from £5 billion announced in March 2024 as levels of demand for quality social housing increase. NatWest is one of the largest lenders to the social housing sector in the UK.
At the moment Yorkshire Housing owns and manages around 20,000 homes in the region. As part of its commitment to addressing the housing crisis, the association aims to build 8,000 new homes. So far, it has completed more than 2,100 homes, with another 2,000 in progress across various tenures, including shared ownership, affordable rent, social rent, and rent-to-buy.
Rob Parkes, Executive Director of Finance and Governance at Yorkshire Housing, said: “We continue to work hard to deliver our ambitious investment and growth plans, to ensure we meet our commitment of providing much-needed homes in Yorkshire.
“We are pleased to have a long-standing relationship with Lloyds and NatWest given their knowledge and expertise of the housing sector and particularly given our shared aim of creating much-needed homes to address the housing crisis.”
As well as building new homes and improving existing ones, Yorkshire Housing aims to create more than 60 apprenticeship roles over the next five years across a range of programmes and levels, including surveying, engineering, property maintenance, finance and others. To date, 182 apprentices have successfully completed Yorkshire Housing’s apprenticeship programme.
Melanie Russell, Director of Housing at Lloyds, said: “We’ve championed and provided funding to the social housing sector for decades, and believe that tackling affordability and sustainability are important steps in creating housing that is fit for future purpose.
“We’re proud that we are now also supporting Yorkshire Housing and to have developed this sustainability-linked funding package for them, which will help them create more much-needed and energy-efficient homes in the region.”
Andrew Dexter, Director Real Estate Finance NatWest, said: “As one of the UK's largest lenders to the social housing sector, we are proud to maintain a strong partnership with the management team at Yorkshire Housing. This relationship enables us to put forward strategic funding solutions that align with and support Yorkshire Housing’s long-term plans while also delivering on our commitment to the social housing sector.”