Articles
2026/03/19
The Japan Social Innovation and Investment Foundation (Chair of Executive Committee: Shuichi Ohno; Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter “SIIF”) has made an equity investment in Class A preferred shares through a third-party allotment in LivEQuality Ooyasan Co., Ltd. The company develops affordable housing[1] initiatives primarily for single-parent households who face difficulty renting homes due to financial hardship and other challenges.
This investment is related to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Public-Private Partnership Fund for Promoting Affordable Housing Supply, for which LivEQuality Ooyasan serves as the GP (General Partner) responsible for its operation.
SIIF positions this initiative as part of its efforts to support the growth of LivEQuality Ooyasan Co., Ltd. At the same time, it reflects a broader commitment to achieving “systems change” in the affordable housing sector for child-rearing families facing economic and social challenges.
[1]Affordable housing refers to housing provided at below-market rates to low-income individuals and families facing housing insecurity.
In Japan, housing insecurity among those who require special consideration in securing housing — including single-parent households — remains a serious and deeply rooted challenge. In the private rental market, prospective tenants are often denied access due to the absence of a guarantor or the nature of their employment, reflecting broader barriers that are difficult to address individually.
Unstable living conditions have wide-ranging consequences — affecting access to continued employment, children’s educational environments, and community ties. Over time, these compounding disadvantages risk cementing inequality of opportunity across generations.
SIIF views housing not merely as a foundation for daily life, but as a “foundation for opportunity” — one closely linked to education, employment, and health. Affordable housing is an important area to recognize not as a reactive measure after people fall into hardship, but as foundational infrastructure that helps prevent the deeper cycle of inequality from taking hold.
Through this investment, SIIF seeks to advance the following changes in the affordable housing sector.
1.Reframing the Social Role of Housing
Repositioning housing support not as an extension of welfare assistance, but as social infrastructure that expands opportunities for child-rearing families — and, in turn, the future possibilities of children themselves.
2.Expanding Inclusive Housing Supply Models
Moving away from systems that restrict access due to perceived tenancy risk, toward models that enable stable housing by embedding the necessary support from the outset.
3.Building a Foundation to Ease the Cycle of Inequality
Creating an environment where stable housing broadens access to employment and educational opportunities, helping to ease the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.
4.Updating Mutual Support Systems for Families with Children
Rebuilding community and institutional networks around child-rearing families — whose social ties and support structures have weakened in recent years, in part due to the increasing prevalence of nuclear family households.
5.Establishing Sustainability Through Public-Private Partnership
Fostering affordable housing not as a one-time policy measure, but as a sustainable and enduring system — built through collaboration between government, private investment, and on-the-ground support expertise.
SIIF made its investment decision based on the following perspectives. This initiative addresses structural issues underlying opportunity gaps through practical implementation in the housing sector. It seeks to reconsider the conventional rental market structure, which has restricted tenant acceptance based on perceived occupancy risks, and to promote a shift toward systems that enable housing by embedding supportive mechanisms.
This investment is positioned as one that works toward systemic change, rather than merely expanding individual support measures. SIIF determined that this approach has the potential to catalyze change in institutional frameworks and market structures themselves.
Key considerations include:
Nanako Kudo
Managing Director Social Innovation and Investment Foundation(SIIF)
Housing is the foundation that supports education, employment, health, and community ties — and it is deeply intertwined with the structural roots of inequality of opportunity. Affordable housing has the potential to go beyond individual support measures, driving change in both the mutual support systems and the underlying structure of the housing market itself.
This initiative builds on the practical work of LivEQuality Ooyasan, positioning supported affordable housing as a viable and sustainable investment asset. It is also an effort to influence market structure by combining public and private capital. Going forward, SIIF will work to create systems change through collaboration with a diverse range of actors working with housing as their starting point.
Takuya Okamoto
President and CEO LivEQuality Ooyasan Co., Ltd.
In taking on the significant responsibility of serving as GP for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Public-Private Partnership Affordable Housing Fund, we are deeply grateful to SIIF for helping us break through the challenges of first-loss risk exposure and financing — with a completely fresh perspective.
SIIF deeply resonated with our commitment to those we serve on the ground, and worked alongside us to translate that into an unprecedented financial structure — a GP investment-linked tracking stock. Their expertise and unwavering dedication to social change mark them as a true leader driving impact investing in Japan.
With such a reassuring partner by our side, we will continue to press forward as pioneers of affordable housing in Japan — working together with SIIF to realize social infrastructure where everyone can live with security and peace of mind.