Since 2017, Homeless Link has supported homelessness sector organisations with blended finance loans and grants to help them grow, strengthen their operations, and increase their impact. This investment has enabled organisations to build capacity, diversify income streams and trading activities, and develop or transform their assets.
Over the next two years, Homeless Link will continue to help members build their understanding of social investment and increase their confidence to access it. To better identify the barriers, challenges and opportunities facing the sector, Homeless Link will also undertake a short-term research project focused on organisations’ experiences of accessing social investment.
Following a tendering process, Homeless Link have appointed The Social Investment Consultancy (TSIC) and Renaisi-TSIP to deliver qualitative research and a learning study on how organisations that work to end homelessness, experience and navigate social investment.
This project will draw on TSIC’s extensive experience supporting social investors and wholesalers to build more inclusive access to finance, while integrating Renaisi-TSIP’s deep homelessness expertise from systems-change initiatives such as the Royal Foundation’s Homewards programme.
Bonnie Chiu, Managing Director at TSIC, says
“As the national membership body for homelessness organisations, Homeless Link has been pioneering how social investment can enable the sector become more financially resilient and sustainable, since 2017. Almost ten years on, it is now commissioning this research to truly understand the perception of homelessness organisations, especially those who have participated in its various social investment and enterprise development programmes, towards social investment.
Given our involvement in both the social investment and homelessness sectors, this year feels like an inflection point for both sectors - as demand for homelessness services continues to skyrocket within a constrained fiscal environment, there's a lot of interest to do things differently.
We hope the research can contribute positively to the sector-wide developments, so that ultimately, more services can be provided to those experiencing homelessness and complex, acute social needs.”
Between February and March, TSIC and Renaisi-TSIP will speak with Homeless Link members and organisations across the sector to understand their experiences of accessing social investment, the challenges they face, and how investment can better support frontline organisations. Whether you have accessed investment through Homeless Link or other social investors, your perspective is incredibly valuable.
Organisations interested in participating can complete this short Expression of Interest form. As a thank you, participants will be invited to a free workshop on navigating social investment.