Rick Matros, chairman & CEO of Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBRA), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITweek: 2023 Investor Conference, held in New York June 6-8.
Matros said that in order to diversify its health care portfolio, Sabra was the first REIT to enter the addiction treatment space around five years ago, and today it makes up 13%-14% of the company’s NOI.
Matros added that ESG is “very important” to Sabra but that about 80% of its portfolio is triple net, so there are challenges there regarding the REIT’s ultimate influence.
“[But] we’ve created a fund called Green Links which gives access to cheap capital to our triple net tenants,” he said. “Essentially they can access capital from us, put it to work for things that benefit the environment, and they don’t have to pay us back until they actually see the returns.”
Turning to the performance of the health care sector at mid-year, Matros said there are some tailwinds in senior housing, and that while the overhang of the staffing mandate on the skilled nursing side needs to be resolved, it can ultimately lead to some positive results.