Monday 28 March 2016

It's a big ask, but...

Our last insecurely housed member needs a home!

Over the last eight years we have somehow managed to buy two houses in London to securely house most of our members. Buying one in London seemed hard enough, but managing to get the second seemed at times like an impossible dream. And we are really grateful everyone that helped us to make that dream come true. But, although nine of us are now securely housed we still have one member who is in insecure rented accommodation. Worse than that, we have just heard that the landlord where they live is now selling the house, so within two or three months our last insecurely housed member will likely be homeless.

We know we can buy a one bedroom flat or studio flat around Tottenham and we can afford a fairly decent size mortgage but with house prices rising due to gentrification around Tottenham (who would have ever though it could happen in Tottenham?) we need to raise £50,000 to be able to buy the flat. It’s a big amount we know, but by getting a lot of smaller amounts we hope we can raise this sum. We have managed it before. So, we are hoping people would be up for loaning us money to achieve this. Ideally we would like to borrow any spare money you have sitting in bank accounts earning money for the rich bankers but giving you nothing. By lending us the money you won't just help us house someone who is about to be homeless, you are helping secure affordable housing for years to come as the homes will all be kept in collective ownership way after all of us are pushing up daisies. Obviously if anyone has money burning a hole in their pockets and they would like to donate the money rather than loaning it that would be fantastic. Yes we know - a long shot, but we might as well ask. To give us some security, loaning us the money for at least five years (or longer) at zero percent interest would be fantastic but we're happy to chat about shorter lengths of time or even a bit of interest. Even if we got £50k for three years, it means we then have the time to raise the money to repay you and it still allows us to buy a flat now. If you are interested and want to know more about what's involved when donating or loaning to us via loanstock, fill in our contact form here (link opens on a new page) or if you already know the score, download our Donations and Loanstock Application form here.

Thank you!