South West social landlord secures £55m RCF to fund development plans

Selwood Housing said the funding will also help it to maintain its progress of more than 90 per cent of its new builds being built to a minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band B.

This is as the provider aims meet a target of all its homes reaching EPC C by 2030, with 75 per cent of its housing stock currently at this level or above.

The landlord said it is working towards reaching its sustainability targets by adopting a ‘fabric first’ approach in its development programmes.

According to its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2023, Selwood Housing completed 4,840 homes, a rise from 4,052 in the previous year.

Mark Mayler, group finance director at Selwood Housing, said: “Our commitment to supplying affordable and sustainable housing to help revitalise our local communities remains at the heart of everything we do.

“Lloyds Bank has backed our vision from the very start and this latest support will ensure we can continue to make a real difference and tackle the housing challenge head-on in the South West for many years to come.”

Selwood Housing has been a customer of Lloyds Bank since it was founded in 2001.

In April, the bank partnered with homelessness charity Crisis and called for one million new social homes to be built over the next decade.

Valeriia Watts, associate director of real estate and housing at Lloyds Bank, said: “The team at Selwood Housing recognise how important it is to build homes that can both help plug the housing gap in the coming years but are also fit for the future.

“We’re proud to support vital housing providers like Selwood Housing to help them reach their sustainability targets and give more people access to affordable housing.”

Selwood Housing is currently graded G1/V2 by the Regulator of Social Housing.

In its 2022-23 results, the housing association posted a group surplus of £6.1m. This was a slight rise from £6m in the previous year, with rent increases and additional property sales mitigating against a rise in operational and interest costs.

Read the first sector-wide look at the latest full year of accounts for providers around the UK. Social Housing’s 2023 accounts digest report looked at the 176 largest registered providers by stock in their categories across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, finding that operating surplus fell 14 per cent in 2023 as rising interest rates and cost increases put pressure on margins. Read our exclusive analysis here.