CAF Bank – commitment and dedication
“Commitment and dedication is at the heart of the almshouse movement, with many members having served their communities for hundreds of years. Whilst CAF Bank is, by comparison, relatively youthful at just 37 years old, next year our parent organisation, the Charities Aid Foundation, celebrates its centenary.
Throughout that time, CAF Bank has understood the challenges of the sector and that stems from being part of the charitable landscape. Our research, and work with charities, and donors, all inform our thought process and product design. For example, when inflationary pressures, energy costs, wage demands, and a tightening of disposable income all started to form what we now know as the ‘Cost of Living’ crisis, we responded by creating a Cost of Living Resources hub (visit https://www.cafonline.org/charities/resource-hub) as well as engaging with all of our borrowers to see what help they might need, based on their circumstances.
We know that there are further challenges to come. Decarbonisation, affordability for residents and housing quality are areas that continue to be priorities. Members that are Register Providers will already have these challenges on their agendas but they are all the more difficult for those members whose almshouses are historic. Green loans are very much on our plan for future product development.
That said almshouses do move with the times. No longer are almshouses solely the preserve of the widowed or the retired. Housing challenges are ever present in modern day society and almshouses are well-placed to respond to this. A good example of this is The Poland Trust which recently completed on a once in a generation expansion of their stock. A real highlight of the project was the average age of the first 4 new residents – around 30. Those 4 individuals would have likely had to move out of the area they grew up in if it wasn’t for the commitment and hard work of the trustees of The Poland Trust.
Our lending function reached its 10th anniversary in 2022 and we have come a long way from that initial blank piece of paper and now stand with a loan book of £224m* of drawn and committed balances. It’s perhaps no surprise that our second-ever loan was to an almshouse and our support of the movement remains. When The Almshouse Association reached its 75th anniversary in 2021 we celebrated by committing a budget of £20m of loans to almshouses with a reduced arrangement fee of 0.75%.
We have created a dedicated almshouse page (see https://www.cafonline.org/caf-bank/secured-loans/flexible-finance-for-almshouses) on our website where you can find out more information and read case studies. We aim to build long-term relationships with our customers, as we believe this helps them to continue long-term relationships with their beneficiaries.”
CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) Bank, April 2023
posted 12 April 2023