Opportunity to invest in affordable local housing

Lapwing Housing Co-op seeks to raise £20,000 in long-term investments by 16 February 2024.

Lapwing Housing Co-op is a community-led project designed to bring new affordable housing to the Lancaster District. We are in the process of buying a property in Halton which will be owned by Lapwing – not an individual – and will be run on a not-for-profit basis.

Lapwing’s approach seeks to offer affordable, secure and sustainable housing, enabling people with no capital to become tenants/members. This is an essential element of the co-op’s vision and is made possible by social investment from those among us who are in a position to offer a loan to the project. Some founder members are also in a position to offer loans alongside members of the wider community – you – who want to see this happen.

Lapwing is registered as a housing co-operative with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Could you be a Lapwing investor?

To buy Lapwing’s property we are pulling together a mix of grants, long-term loans, loan stock and a mortgage. In order to keep the project as affordable as possible to members/tenants we need to keep the costs of borrowing as low as possible.

So far we have secured a substantial grant offer, have raised £284,700 in Loan Stock from 22 individuals and have applied for a £145,000 mortgage from the Ecology Building Society.

As the interest rates on mortgages is high, we are seeking to raise an additional £20,000 through social investments (long term loan stock) and donations. This is where we hope you will come into the picture.

Social investment

The basic idea of social investment is that you offer to invest a sum of money for a set period of years -- you choose – either as a loan or as loanstock. The interest rate is between 0% and 2% - you choose. As a social investment you are investing in the creation of new and affordable community housing opportunities for the local area. This is vastly different to investing purely for financial gain.

The loans, loan stock and mortgage are repaid through rents paid by Lapwing tenants (who are also members).

We have a robust business plan which confirms this is viable. This has been checked by an advisor to Lancaster City Council and Catalyst. Any surplus created in future years will be reinvested back into the project or will be used to support the creation of other similar projects in the District.

By offering a loan or loan stock to Lapwing housing Coop you will be making a very real contribution to creating a new form of community housing here. Thank you for considering if this is possible for you.

For more information please see our Loan Stock FAQ here.

To invest, please complete this Investor Application form.