Someone leaves prison with nowhere to go. A young person leaves care and loses their support network overnight. A parent rebuilding after violence moves into temporary accommodation with no idea how long they can stay.
These are turning points. What happens next shapes where someone lives, works and belongs for years.
The pattern repeats. Support in health, education or employment begins to take hold. Then housing falls through. A tenancy ends. Rent rises beyond reach. A move disrupts routines. Progress unravels. Even strong services struggle when housing is unstable. Housing stability underpins everything else.
Where systems fail, housing sits at the centre
Many of the organisations we support work with people at these turning points. They help someone find work, rebuild relationships or regain confidence. But when housing falls through, progress rarely holds.
That has shaped how we fund. We provide long-term, flexible support so organisations can stay alongside people when life becomes unstable.
Housing insecurity sits at the centre of many of the pressures our partners address in daily life. That has led us to examine whether our endowment supports that work or, unintentionally, works against it.
Foundations often separate grant-making and investment. One addresses social need. The other generates income. That split is too neat. We are increasingly aware that how we invest matters as much as what we fund. Over time, we want our commitment to stability to shape more of the organisation, not just our grant programmes.
Increasing supply
Earlier this year, we committed £30 million across three social and affordable housing funds: L&G’s Affordable Housing Fund, Man Group’s Community Housing Fund III and Octopus Capital’s Affordable Housing Fund.
The aim is clear – to generate long-term returns while increasing the supply of social and affordable homes.
We selected funds investing in social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership, working through regulated providers, often alongside Homes England grant funding.
We chose to increase supply rather than trade existing stock. That meant backing funds that build new homes, not ones that buy and sell what already exists.
Managers had to demonstrate how their investments would increase supply. They also had to demonstrate careful risk management and strong governance.
What this means in practice
Across the three funds, our allocation is expected to support around 316 homes, housing about 920 people. These are projections. They do not fix the national shortage.
For the families who will live in those homes, stability is the ground everything else stands on. It allows work to continue, children to stay in school, and support services to build momentum rather than starting again.
Returns and responsibility
Social housing is still an investment. The endowment exists to generate returns that fund our grant-making now and in the future. The target range for this allocation is 6 to 8 percent over the long term, and we assess these funds with the same care and scrutiny as any other part of the portfolio.
But where money is invested affects the homes that are built and the rents that are charged. Secure housing gives people a base to keep a job, stay in school and rebuild. When housing is unstable, progress unravels.
If our programmes focus on systems that break down, we should pay attention to whether our investments pull in the same direction. We want our investments and our grant-making to move closer together over time.
We do not control the housing market. We are not developers or landlords. But we can decide where our capital sits. We can choose whether it backs long-term provision or short-term gain.
When systems work, support holds. Organisations can plan. People facing some of life’s hardest moments are more likely to regain stability and rebuild their lives.
Housing is one of the foundations of that stability.
We cannot solve the housing shortage alone. But we can choose to stand on the side of increased supply, regulated provision and long-term resilience. That is the work of grant-making. And increasingly, it is also the work of investing.
