Saltaire, a wholly owned subsidiary of ARA Venn, won a concession last month from the UK government to provide £3bn of cost-effective long-term loans, of up to 30 years, to registered providers developing new affordable homes in England.
Investment manager ARA Venn has appointed former Minister of State for Housing Mark Prisk FRICS and non-executive member at the social housing regulator Sarah Wall as non-executive directors of Saltaire Housing.
Saltaire, a wholly owned subsidiary of ARA Venn, won a concession last month from the UK government to provide £3bn of cost-effective long-term loans, of up to 30 years, to registered providers developing new affordable homes in England.
As the concessionaire, the board of Saltaire is responsible for the successful delivery of the Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme in accordance with the concession, and to uphold the highest standards of corporate governance.
As its investment manager, ARA Venn is responsible for establishing and managing the scheme including the origination, underwriting and ongoing management of the loans, and developing and managing a government guaranteed bond programme to efficiently fund them.
The scheme is available to finance social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership housing in England, in accordance with the scheme’s rules.
This new investment is expected to support the delivery of around 17,000 new affordable homes.
Mark Prisk served as a Member of Parliament for 18 years before stepping down at the 2019 General Election.
Prior to his role as Minister of State for Housing, he was Minister of State for Business and Enterprise.
Prisk is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and a former senior member of the House of Commons Housing & Local Government Select Committee.
Wall has over 20 years of experience as a senior funder to the social housing, real estate and infrastructure industries.
Most recently a senior portfolio manager at Aviva and previously at the Pensions Protection Fund, she has also served as head of investment risk at the Pension Insurance Corporation.
Wall also rated social housing bonds at Fitch Ratings.
Richard Green, partner, portfolio manager of the scheme at ARA Venn, said: “We are delighted to welcome Mark and Sarah to the board of Saltaire Housing.
"With their extensive and complementary experience in the social housing industry, we are confident that we will be able to successfully support the delivery of the Scheme.”
Wall added: “Having run some of the largest funders of social housing, I am committed to contributing to the development of more affordable homes for our essential workers.
"Now, more than ever, we owe those fighting on the frontline of COVID-19 truly affordable, high quality and comfortable homes. I am very pleased to support the Scheme.”
Prisk also commented on his appointment: “In my previous role as the Housing Minister, I helped to establish the first Affordable Housing Guarantee Scheme because I believe it is a great way to provide cost effective loans to build more affordable homes for people.
"I look forward to continue playing my part to support the sustainable development of the UK’s housing sector.”
