Scottish Government commits £40 million in Allia C&C’s Scottish charitable bonds

The Scottish Government has confirmed it will invest a further £40 million in Allia C&C’s Scottish charitable bond programme for 2020/21, to help continue to deliver its social housing targets.

Allia C&C has been supporting the development of affordable homes across Scotland for several years with its Scottish Charitable Bond programme. Allia said its bonds provide "simple, affordable loans" to housing associations solely for building affordable housing, using Scottish Government investment. In addition, the interest on the loans enables the Scottish Government to also provide grants for further social housing benefit. The loans are available for five to 15 years on an unsecured basis, with light covenants in place, and no loan or interest repayments are made until the end of the term.

Since the 2015/16 financial year, the Scottish Government has invested over £208.5 million into the bond programme. This has led to over £152 million being issued as loans to 16 housing associations, some coming back to receive multiple loans over different years. The investment has also enabled the future loan interest of over £56.5 million to be allocated as a grant fund, of which £42 million has already been donated to 13 different housing associations.

Daniel Carrico, Head of Origination at Allia C&C, said “We are so proud to be part of a programme which has created an incredible amount of social impact.

"The 2019/20 year has been our most successful to date, with £63 million of loans issued to six different housing associations – and generating over £25 million as a grant fund from the future loan interest.

"Receiving a further £40 million from the Scottish Government for the next financial year really helps us to continue our mission of amplifying social and economic impact through these unique bonds, whilst helping the Scottish Government achieve their 50,000 new affordable homes target.”