For more than 20 years, Social Investment Business has funded community businesses with grants, loans and blended finance to help them sustain and grow their vital frontline services.
Across SIB’s portfolio, there has been a focus on asset purchase, management and development to help to secure the long-term future of community organisations. Recent research conducted by SIB’s data team has underlined the importance of assets to community organisations, particular in areas of deprivation. This echoes our previous research on the impact of social investment on the resilience of investees.
Our research has also highlighted the lag faced by the community sector in its transition to net zero compared to the domestic housing sector, with 50% of homes rated EPC C or above, compared to only 44% of community buildings. This drops to 38% of community buildings in the most deprived areas.
We have also found that the position of community buildings compared to other non-domestic buildings has become more precarious since 2016. Although there have been some improvements in the efficiency of assets, the pace of retrofitting and renovation has slowed considerably as the improvement in other nondomestic buildings has picked up.
SIB has begun working towards supporting the sector on buildings and heating through an exploratory programme of work on district heating.
