Civitas Social Housing PLC Civitas Social Housing and Crisis Partnership

TIDMCSH

Civitas Social Housing PLC

07 June 2017

Civitas Social Housing PLC and Crisis announce partnership to help homeless people secure a home to rent

   --     Civitas to provide funding support for the Crisis "Renting Ready" programme across the UK 
   --     Highly successful approach which is supported by Landlord Associations 
   --     Practical training on how to  secure and maintain a tenancy helping transform lives 

-- Part of broader Civitas/Crisis relationship intended to explore other social housing based initiatives that will draw on the complementary skills of the parties

London, 7(th) June 2017: Civitas Social Housing PLC (Civitas), the first real estate investment trust dedicated to investing into built social homes, and Crisis, the national charity for homeless people, have today announced a partnership to support Crisis's Renting Ready programme.

Renting Ready is a "real world" practical programme to help homeless people successfully transition into quality rented accommodation by teaching valuable skills such as how to secure and maintain a tenancy, make money go further, make a house a home and how to manage relationships with landlords and flatmates.

The programme gives private landlords the confidence that their prospective tennent is aware of their rights and responsibilities as a result of attending Renting Ready.

As part of the partnership, Civitas has pledged to fund a Housing Trainer who will work around the country to deliver the Renting Ready programme.The programme is taught in partnership with a number of local and third sector organisations including local authorities, supported housing projects, young people's services and entities dedicated to assisting in rehabilitation following custodial sentences.

The dedicated Housing Trainer will teach the Renting Ready programme directly to individuals looking to rent in the private sector, and will also be able to train other people to deliver the course independently, ensuring that the programme reaches a far wider audience.

The focus on the private rented sector is itself a practical reflection on the shortage of all types of social housing in many parts of the country. Through its investment activities Civitas seeks to promote the creation of additional social homes in England and Wales within the regulated sector.

Chief Executive of Crisis Jon Sparkes commented: "We are delighted to be working with Civitas. With the generous support of our partners and donors, we are able to deliver our life-changing work which helps people leave homelessness behind for good.

"We're grateful to Civitas for providing vital funding for our Renting Ready training programme, which helps homeless people to find and live independently in rented homes. With this support, we hope to see Renting Ready become best practice throughout the sector in supporting people to move out of homelessness."

Chairman of Civitas Michael Wrobel commented:

"Civitas is committed to support the delivery of high quality accommodation for those with housing needs in England and Wales as part of our objective to deliver sustainable returns for our shareholders by making socially relevant investments.

"We are very pleased to announce our partnership with Crisis, who lead important housing policy initiatives but also offer real practical hope and support on the ground. We look forward to working together on this and other initiatives".

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For more information on the Renting Ready course, and to view sample resources go to: https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/housing-centre/renting-ready/

For further information, please contact:

Civitas Housing Advisors Limited

   Paul Bridge                             Tel: [phone] 
   Andrew Dawber                   Tel: [phone] 

Cenkos Securities PLC

   Sapna Shah                            Tel: [phone] 
   Tom Scrivens                        Tel: [phone] 

Pagefield

   Philip Dennis                         Tel: [phone] 
   David Leslie                           Tel: [phone] 

Crisis

   Eleanor Radford                    Tel: [phone] 

About Civitas

Civitas Social Housing PLC is the first real estate investment trust dedicated to investing exclusively into existing portfolios of built regulated social homes in England and Wales. The Company achieved admission to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the London Stock Exchange in November 2016, raising GBP350 million in an oversubscribed IPO since when the Company has announced a number of investments.

Civitas works in partnership with Housing Associations and Local Authorities (together "Registered Providers" ) together with other housing professionals to help them unlock capital held in existing social homes for new development and to promote the delivery of new social homes. Civitas does not develop or manage social homes directly but works in close collaboration with Registered Providers and others who provide these services.

Civitas' investment activity supports housing owners and providers with the provision of permanent capital to facilitate their objective of delivering more social homes and offers investors the potential for sensible, risk adjusted real returns with regular dividend distributions.

About Crisis

Crisis is the national charity for homeless people. We are committed to ending homelessness.

Every day we see the devastating impact homelessness has on people's lives. Every year we work side by side with thousands of homeless people, to help them rebuild their lives and leave homelessness behind for good.

Through our pioneering research into the causes and consequences of homelessness and the solutions to it, we know what it will take to end it.

Together with others who share our resolve, we bring our knowledge, experience and determination to campaign for the changes that will solve the homelessness crisis once and for all.

We bring together a unique volunteer effort each Christmas, to bring warmth, companionship and vital services to people at one of the hardest times of the year, and offer a starting point out of homelessness.

We know that homelessness is not inevitable. We know that together we can end it.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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June 07, 2017 07:16 ET (11:16 GMT)