ARA Venn appoints former housing minister to affordable homes scheme

Investment manager ARA Venn’s Saltaire Housing, which is set to run the £3bn Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme, has appointed former housing minister Mark Prisk as its chair. Prisk (pictured) will join the board as a non-executive director alongside Sarah Wall, who is formerly a senior funder of social infrastructure within the pensions and insurance industry. The government chose Saltaire Housing, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of ARA Venn, to provide £3bn in cost-effective long-term loans of up to 30 years to registered providers developing new affordable homes in England. As its investment manager, ARA Venn will set up and manage 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. Prisk served as an MP for 18 years before stepping down at the December 2019 General Election. He is also a strategic adviser at architecture firm Benoy. Wall has more than 20 years of experience as a senior funder to the social housing, real estate and infrastructure industries. She was a senior portfolio manager at Aviva for two years until 2019 and has also held roles at the Pension Protection Fund, the Pension Insurance Corporation, M&G and Fitch Ratings. The AHGS is expected to finance around 17,000 new affordable homes. Prisk said: “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 continuing to play my part to support the sustainable development of the UK’s housing sector.” Wall said: “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 front line of Covid-19 truly affordable, high-quality and comfortable homes.” Richard Green, partner and portfolio manager of the AHGS at ARA Venn, said: “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.” To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette