Allia awarded new bond contract by Scottish Government
Programme provides loans and grants to housing associations supporting the development of affordable housing across Scotland.
The Scottish Government has officially announced the award of a new contract to Allia, with a commitment to invest a further £25 million in Allia’s successful bond programme for Scotland, providing loans and grants to Scottish housing associations.
Since 2014, the Scottish Government has invested nearly £70 million in Allia’s bonds to support the development of affordable housing across Scotland. To date, Allia’s bond programme has provided medium-term unsecured loans for nine housing associations around the country, including Kingdom Housing Association in Fife and Hjaltland Housing Association in Shetland.
Together, these loans are expected to provide over 900 new affordable homes across Scotland. In addition, the interest that will be paid on these loans has enabled the creation of a grant fund of over £16 million to support the delivery of homes for those on the lowest incomes.
The new contract now provides a further £25 million for investment in bonds in the current financial year.
Minister for Housing Kevin Stewart said:
“Innovative financing schemes, such as charitable bonds, play a major role in helping us to deliver our five-year commitment to provide at least 50,000 affordable homes during the lifetime of this parliament.
“Our investment of a further £25 million this year in Allia’s bond programme is expected to provide around £18 million in unsecured loan finance for Scottish housing associations and up to £7 million in grant funding for the development of new social housing.
Phil Caroe, Director of Social Finance, Allia said:
“Allia is delighted to secure another £25 million to continue our lending programme in Scotland. Our unsecured loans are helping to fund the development of new affordable homes across the country, and we look forward to working with more housing associations and supporting them with this new funding.”