YorSpace,
a community land trust (CLT) in York, has raised £100,000 to develop affordable housing in the city, just 11 days after launching a share offer.
The CLT plans to build 19 permanently affordable homes at Lowfield Green in the York suburb of Acomb.
The land will then be leased to residents via a specially created Mutual Home Ownership Society (MHOS), which will generate income to repay the shares.
Residents will commit to nurturing an active community and will also share communal spaces such as dining and kitchen areas, a laundry room and even cars to promote social cohesion.
The homes themselves at Lowfield Green will be built from low carbon, bio-based construction materials, lowering their carbon footprint and making them more energy-efficient to run.
Investors earn a competitive rate of return of 2.5% after making an investment between £250 and £47,500 and funds can be withdrawn after three years.
Imelda Havers, director of YorSpace said: ‘We’re delighted to reach this important fundraising milestone so quickly after the launch of the community share offer in York.
‘We sense a growing tide of interest in funding fairer housing in our city and although our target of £475,000 is some way off, hitting this first big milestone should give everybody confidence that our mission can be achieved.’
Yorspace has a target of £475,000 for the project with the share offer period running until the end of October 2019.
You can invest in the project here.
James Newton, director of YorSpace added: ‘We believe our community funded, permanently affordable homes using low carbon building materials is a model for the future but we need to raise the money to make it a reality.
‘By investing from as little as £250 you’ll be helping to deliver a genuinely innovative development and fairer housing for local people.’
Photo Credit – Yorspace