AG2R La Mondiale’s (AG2R)’s ambitious social infrastructure programme lies in its commitment to support those who are more vulnerable, homeless or in poverty in France. A key driver of this strategy is the Solifap housing investment initiative that AG2R launched with Fondation-Abbé-Pierre, a French public body whose mission is to ensure homeless and other underprivileged people in France have access to decent housing and a better standard of living.

Solifap was specifically created at the end of 2014 to provide structural support to associations fighting against inadequate housing and to facilitate the construction of affordable, sustainable and inclusive homes. The initial equity investment was €12m accompanied by an annual budgetary endowment provided by AG2R. Solifap’s model has three components:

• An advisory service;
• A line of credit based on equity loans or guarantees to facilitate access to bank financing or prefund renovation projects pending subsidies;
• Potential to acquire real estate to make available to the associations via long-term leases.

To date, it has supported more than 150 projects in both mainland France and its overseas territories and is the lead financial partner of some 65% of the projects it supports. Moreover, since 2014, Solifap has created 400 homes and provided better housing for 4,000 people with average rents of €8 per square metre in town centres, compared with an average of €20 elsewhere.

AG2R’s investment in Solifap aligns with key UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). By offering tenants living below the poverty line or who have been homeless accommodation in town centres less than one kilometre from a school, a shop or public transport, Solifap is increasing their chances of accessing decent work as per SDG 8 and is aiming to put an end to poverty everywhere in France, conforming to SDG 1.

STRATEGIC TAKEAWAYS

The Church Commissioners for England’s is the lead investor in closed-end Social Supported Housing Fund (SoHo), which was launched in 2019 to create purpose-designed housing for people with lifetime care needs, such as autism, poor mental health and learning disabilities in small community settings. With a total of €224m of equity raised since inception that has been fully committed to 58 housing projects, SoHo has grown to become the largest private funder of this type of new-build housing in the UK.

For IST3 Infrastruktur Global social infrastructure investments, which may account for as much as 20% of its assets, are a critical building block to constructing a balanced core infrastructure portfolio. The sub-class enables it to positively impact the communities that invests in beyond the financial benefits for the Swiss pension funds that it represents, namely long-term commitments and stable cash flows. Meanwhile its defensive nature provides the foundation with a portfolio diversifier.