KOIS Newsletter – Providing housing to those who fought for us

June 22, 2020
As we slowly recover from the crisis, we cannot forget about those who fought for us: frontline workers. In this June edition of our newsletter, we want to address an issue brought forward through the crisis: that of lack of affordable housing, on which many essential workers depend. One solution already exists to increase the supply: affordable & social housing funds.
Dear friends,

 

 

 Like us, you must have heard and been touched by the 8PM daily ovation for our frontline workers. Around the world, populations stood up and cheered for our essential workers, from nurses to cashiers to educators. One thing is sure, they are the true heroes of this crisis.

Yet, COVID-19 has also shed some light on the conditions under which many of them must live. In Belgium for instance, nurses are given a starting salary just above minimum wage and can only expect a mere 1,25% increase per year, on average. How is one supposed to cover rising living costs such as rent? Affordable housing exists, but demand largely outgrows supply and conditions often prevent people such as essential workers to access it.

At KOIS, the thematic of affordable housing has been a key topic for the past 10 years. We strongly believe that private capital has a role to play in increasing the supply. How? Through affordable housing funds.

This month, we are taking the opportunity of our newsletter to share with you what affordable housing funds are and how they manage to provide quality affordable housing to low-income populations, while providing a return to their investors. 

We also share with you a success story: Inclusio, the first Belgian affordable housing fund. KOIS co-founded Inclusio with Bank Degroof-Petercam and Real Estate developer Revive in 2015. Today, Inclusio not only offers an annual dividend yield of around 3% to its investors, it provides housing to over 900 families. But, Inclusio won’t stop there and has many plans to increase its impact in the future. For more on this, stay tuned on KOIS’ channels…

There is no doubt that looking ahead, public and private actors will need to collaborate to offer a response providing enough social housing and under the right conditions.

The good news? Part of the solution already exists

For the KOIS team,

François de Borchgrave, Charles-Antoine Janssen, Serena Guarnaschelli,
KOIS partners

providing housing to frontline workers through affordable housing funds

COVID-19 brought to light the struggle many essential workers face to find affordable housing. With social and affordable housing funds, we want to increase the supply of quality housing accessible to such populations. Inclusio, the first Belgian affordable housing fund, is an example of how private capital can truly have a positive impact in this domain, while generating attractive returns.

In other KOIS news…

For all the latest KOIS projects and articles, make sure to follow us on LinkedIn & Twitter

face masks for belgium hospitals

Medical Equipment for Belgium, co-founded namely by KOIS, was able to bring over 130 000 FFP2 masks, 226 000 pairs of gloves and 50 000 medical gowns, all passing the required quality tests!

cover gist KOIS investment project

GIST Impact is KOIS’ newest investee. They aim to enable every organization to create a sustainable tomorrow, by putting accessible impact measurement tools directly in the hands of decision-makers.

Solar field in Africa. solar power may be the solution to electrify africa. KOIS wants to enable its scale up through impact investing.

While private investments in solar projects and companies are increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, the public sector seems to be left out of the current solar GoldRush. Can impact finance bring a solution through coordinated public-private partnerships?

Large study hall. Many students face financing issues and debt. Can income sharing agreement change the norm?

Can Income-Sharing agreements revolutionize the way education is funded? KOIS took a look at the issues ISAs address and the ethical questions they raise. And, of course, how blended finance could offer an adequate response!

Follow KOIS on social media or subscribe for more updates! 

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