Triple Point Social Housing REIT | ESG

An important aspect of Triple Point’s approach to ESG and sustainable business is the adoption of the Principles for Responsible Investment (‘PRI’), which we signed up to in 2019. The PRI principles are designed to guide and demonstrate best practice ESG integration, and to promote alignment between the objectives of investors and wider society. The principles, which are voluntary, are intended to be actionable and measurable.

In support of our commitment to ESG and sustainable business, Triple Point has designed and implemented ESG integration policies across our investment strategies. The purpose of each policy is to identify, monitor and manage ESG issues to minimise the risk of Triple Point investing in ways that could undermine ESG principles. Such investing risks harm to wider stakeholders, undermining, and potentially reducing, the financial objectives of our investments.

Should you wish to see a copy of a Fund’s ESG policy please contact: [email protected]

Triple Point Social Housing REIT Plc invests in social housing designed to provide high-quality homes for vulnerable adults across the UK. Fund success directly correlates to the creation of positive social impact. Triple Point also believes the best form of positive impact creation embeds a strong commitment to ESG practice.

There are three reasons why we consider ESG to be vital to Triple Point’s investment processes and our social housing fund:

1. As investors of capital, we have the ability – and therefore the responsibility – to allocate that capital in a way that protects people and planet for the long term.

2. Better ESG compliance drives better due diligence and therefore better financial performance (discussed in more detail below).

3. By demonstrating our own ESG performance, we will both encourage others to improve their own ESG performance, and increase the likelihood of raising further socially-beneficial capital.

The financial success of our property investments correlates strongly with how much the investments observe ESG principles. We therefore favour investments:

• which meet a social need (since that boosts occupancy, which in turn secures our rental income);
• where the properties are well-built and environmentally efficient (since that too encourages occupancy); and
• where the counterparties (including the lessee and care provider) are well-governed (since that will increase the likelihood of properties being occupied and operated properly)

Triple Point Social Housing REIT Plc invests in social housing designed to provide high-quality homes for vulnerable adults across the UK.

Triple Point’s Social Housing Real Estate Investment Trust (“SOHO” or “the REIT”) was launched in 2017 to invest in specialised supported housing (“SSH”) across the UK. SSH is a form of housing provision where homes in the community are adapted for vulnerable adults with care and support needs. It is widely held to offer positive outcomes for individuals by offering a greater degree of independence compared with alternative settings, while continuing to meet specialist care needs.

Triple Point’s REIT defines its impact goal as: Increasing the provision of high quality Specialised Supported Housing that delivers positive outcomes for people with care and support needs. This goal is underpinned by five impact objectives:

1. Provide housing that meets a social need
2. Fund sustainable developments of specialist housing
3. Provide value for money for public budgets
4. Increase supply of specialist housing
5. Develop strong partnerships and deliver quality services

To ensure these positive factors are achieved, we commission Social Impact Specialists The Good Economy to produce an Impact Report on the activities of our Social Housing Fund.

Our team will share feedback from our due diligence process with the Housing Provider and outline where action may be required, or the key elements we expect continued strong performance on, these conversations target both high-level directors and operational staff. These considerations span all factors which we consider could affect the overall success of a project including specific ESG elements. Engagement has included exploring the adoption of renewable energy providers by Housing Providers, encouraging improved energy and water efficiency and exploring improvements in energy efficiency with the properties.

Our real estate ESG approach is guided by our involvement in the Sustainability Reporting Standard, and industry-led initiative launched in 2020 to create standardised ESG metrics in the social housing sector.  The metrics are being implemented throughout 2021 following a series of technical consultations. We consider sector-wide metrics to be important for creating consistent, recognisable standards that the REIT and its peers will be assessed against to create transparency and comparability, and which will drive up sustainability performance. We have been early adopters of this standard.

Triple Point is also a participant in another sector-wide project, the Equity Impact Project, to develop sector-wide impact metrics (rather than ESG metrics) for equity investors in social housing. Again, agreeing and implementing these metrics will provide rigour in impact assessment that will drive up standards.

We are also currently in the process of exploring green leases through our membership of the Green Lease working group for the Green Finance Institute. We believe that it’s important to drive up environmental standards during the lease holding period, and participation in such industry collaborations is an important part of our stewardship role and responsibility.

Triple Point Social Housing REIT Plc invests in social housing designed to provide high-quality homes for vulnerable adults across the UK.

Triple Point’s REIT defines its impact goal as: Increasing the provision of high quality Specialised Supported Housing that delivers positive outcomes for people with care and support needs. This goal is underpinned by five impact objectives:

1. Provide housing that meets a social need
2. Fund sustainable developments of specialist housing
3. Provide value for money for public budgets
4. Increase supply of specialist housing
5. Develop strong partnerships and deliver quality services

To ensure these positive factors are achieved, we commission Social Impact Specialists The Good Economy to produce an Impact Report on the activities of our Social Housing Fund. The latest version of this report is available on our website: https://www.triplepointreit.com/ 

We conduct a careful review of origination and lending processes to enable the implementation of practical, proportionate and material ESG integration. There are two key elements to our approach:

1. Management (Culture, Capacity & Governance) – this refers to the allocation of appropriate resourcing, training and senior support to ESG integration. It demonstrates Triple Point’s actions have integrity aligned with the strategic position of the company and oversight from senior management. Examples of which include:
   1. Training across our investment team on ESG
   2. Training of our Investment Committee on ESG
   3. Providing ESG and impact information in our reporting to beneficiaries
2. New Business and Portfolio (Process & Reporting) – this refers to integrating ESG factors throughout the investment and asset management process, ensuring that ESG principles influence investment decisions and how properties are managed post-acquisition. Examples of which include:
   1. Development of a very detailed DD process, including ESG factors, for assessing the quality and approach of an RP before we will engage with them.
   2. ESG factors are presented and considered at every IC
   3. ESG factors are considered at our Portfolio Asset Management meetings to ensure continued engagement between our Registered Providers and the expectations established at the point of investment