A letter from Sefa in support of Nightingale Housing

The Nightingale Housing journey is something close to our hearts and in light of recent media attention about changes to Nightingale's governance structure, we thought it was important for Sefa to show our support.

Sefa first encountered Nightingale in 2015 when we provided a construction loan for Nightingale 1.0: a sustainable, community-focused multi-residential development that was innovative in its design and the way it was delivered and financed.

From our very first interactions with Nightingale and its Managing Director, Jeremy McLeod, we have found the organisation to be trustworthy, ethical, and transparent.

But we also know from experience that running and scaling a purpose-driven organisation comes with numerous challenges. It is often necessary to pivot when the circumstances require it.

Nightingale recently made the decision to move from operating as a profit-for-purpose social enterprise to a not-for-profit structure. This was to ensure the Nightingale model could never be monetised, and the organisation’s values - community, affordability and environmental sustainability – would be enshrined in its Constitution forever.

It has also moved away from a licensing model and strengthened its capacity to manage Nightingale projects, making it easier to scale and deliver more carbon-neutral communities into the market.

As long-standing investors in Nightingale, Sefa has the utmost faith in the organisation and no hesitation in giving our support to Jeremy, Tamara, and the team. We welcome the recent changes to their governance structure as this supports independence and longevity.

To find out more about the changes at Nightingale, you can read a message from them here.

To discuss the partnership between Sefa and Nightingale Housing, you can email our CEO Hanna Ebeling at Hanna.Ebeling@socialenterprisefinance.com.