Understanding impact across funds, partners, people and systems

Resonance’s property funds bring together investment, housing and specialist support. The Homelessness Property Funds buy and refurbish homes which are leased to homelessness charities and housing associations. These partners house and support people who have experienced homelessness or are at risk of losing their home.

The Women in Safe Homes Fund was developed by Resonance and Patron Capital to provide safe, affordable homes for women experiencing homelessness, domestic abuse, exploitation or involvement in the criminal justice system.

These models create impact at several levels. They affect the people living in the homes, the organisations supporting them and the wider housing and public-service systems in which they operate. The challenge is to understand impact at all levels, bringing together consistent evidence from different places, with different groups who are working across different systems.

For Resonance, impact reporting also needs to do more than demonstrate results to investors. It needs to help the funds and their partners learn, adapt and make better decisions.

Combining evidence, experience and continuous learning

Homelessness Property Funds

Our work with the Homelessness Property Funds began with the first Real Lettings Property Fund in 2013. Over more than a decade, we developed the impact approach alongside Resonance as the model expanded to five funds and a growing network of housing partners.

Each year, we brought together and analysed data from across the funds, using in-depth analysis and visualisation to understand who was being housed, the quality and stability of the accommodation, tenants’ wellbeing and progress, and what happened when people moved on. We placed these findings within their wider economic, housing and policy context, and combined them with interviews and tenants’ experiences to explain what sat behind the figures.

Over time, the work developed from annual measurement and reporting into a broader learning partnership. We helped Resonance strengthen data collection across housing partners, introduce new partners to the shared impact framework and explore issues requiring a deeper response, including rent arrears, complex needs, employment and move-on. The issues that arose often intersected with other systems outside just housing such as mental health and social care.

We also designed, set up and ran tenants’ forums over three years. Each year, we built a group of regular participants, building group trust, confidence and contributions over time. Until then, tenants’ experiences had largely been captured through individual case studies, but these forums created an ongoing space for tenants to share their experiences of the homes, property management and support they received. They generated practical insights and recommendations for Resonance and its housing partners and helped Resonance understand how the funds’ design worked in practice for the people living in its homes.

Women in Safe Homes Fund

Our work with the Women in Safe Homes Fund began in 2021. We worked with Resonance, Patron Capital, investors and specialist women’s organisations to develop an impact framework grounded in what matters to the women living in the homes. This established five impact principles:

• recognising and responding to women’s experiences of gendered disadvantage and inequality

• aligning investment with the needs and circumstances of women and women’s sector organisations

• scaling appropriately by tailoring the fund’s approach to different organisations and contexts

• empowering women and women’s sector organisations to exercise greater choice and control

• gathering and sharing learning to influence investors, organisations and policymakers

The framework considers change at three levels: women, housing partners and the wider system.

We have since produced annual social impact reports, analysed tenant and partner data, conducted qualitative interviews and supported regular Housing Partner Forums. The forums bring organisations together to share practice, identify common challenges and explore issues with policymakers and sector experts. This has helped turn separate reporting relationships into a network for peer learning and collective influence.

Evidence that informs action

Our work helped Resonance build a detailed, long-term evidence base around the contribution that safe, stable housing can make to people’s lives.

For the Homelessness Property Funds, the evidence demonstrated impact at significant scale. By March 2023, the five funds had raised £293 million, acquired more than 1,000 properties and housed 3,367 people. The accumulated evidence also supported wider analysis of the model. Independent research commissioned by Big Society Capital estimated that the funds could generate £455 million in public savings and wellbeing benefits over their lifetimes.

Just as importantly, annual learning and the tenants’ forums informed practical changes. Evidence about changing household needs influenced the types of properties being acquired. Analysis of arrears highlighted the interaction between financial difficulty, mental health and gaps in support and the value of early intervention. Findings about move-on, employment and the different experiences of tenant groups helped the funds and their partners identify where their models worked well and where it was limited within the wider housing system. The tenants’ recommendations gave Resonance a clearer view of how the funds were experienced and identified specific improvements that could be made.

For the Women in Safe Homes Fund, learning has been built into the model from the beginning. By March 2025, the fund had housed 511 women and children through eight operational housing partners. The evidence shows that the fund’s homes are helping women to feel safe, recover from past experiences, access support and build greater independence and control over their lives.

The findings have also exposed challenges that housing alone cannot solve, including the shortage of suitable move-on options, the growing complexity of women’s needs and inconsistent understanding of domestic abuse across local authorities. Resonance and its partners have used this evidence to refine the fund’s priorities, strengthen collaboration and develop their understanding of children’s needs.

In recent years, Resonance has increasingly recognised the influence it can exercise beyond its own funds. Its evidence, investment experience and relationships with housing partners give it a valuable perspective on how different parts of the housing system interact. Our work has supported Resonance and its partners to explore shared systemic barriers, engage with policymakers and sector experts, and use learning from the funds to contribute to wider debates about housing, support and social investment.

Across both relationships, our role has been to connect measurement with learning and learning with action. Rather than treating impact as an annual reporting exercise, we have helped create feedback loops through which data, tenants’ experiences and partner knowledge shape how funds develop and contribute to change in the wider housing system.