Ethical investment opportunity!

Will you invest in our next round of loanstock?

Why invest?

By investing in Tir Cyffredin you are supporting continuation of  7 affordable and secure community housing rooms, helping us strengthen community bonds, and ensuring housing remains a right, not a commodity. 

Five years ago, Tir Cyffredin Housing Cooperative bought the property called Bryn Tyrnol on the outskirts of Machynlleth, ensuring it could continue to stay home to activists, musicians, poets and host environmental and social justice campaigns, workshops, choirs, folk sessions and storytelling for generations to come. (More history)

As new custodians, we've poured our energies into repairing and restoring the house and land to create a stable base from which the co-operative can thrive. (More on renovations) 

What is a housing co-operative?

A housing co-operative is a group of people who manage and control the housing in which they live. They are registered as not-for-profit organizations with the Financial Conduct Authority, enabling them to apply for mortgages and purchase property.

Every tenant is a member of the co-operative and has an equal say in decision-making, and no member individually owns or makes profit at the expense of another. Each member takes an active role in managing the co-operative, including a secretary, a treasurer, and a maintenance co-ordinator.

When a tenant moves out, they also leave the co-operative, and are replaced by the new tenant. This means the house always belongs to the people who live there. If the co-op should ever cease to exist, its assets have to stay within the co-operative movement. Thus, by coming together and acting co-operatively, tenants gain access to housing that would not be affordable to them as individuals. Quality housing, controlled by its tenants, that will remain in common ownership and accessible to all.

How does the finance work? 

Housing co-operatives make property affordable long-term because they are financed in part by loan stock. Loan stock is a term used for money invested in a co-operative by external parties. One of the advantages of loan stock is that it is a direct agreement between the co-op and the investor, so the full amount goes directly to the co-operative, rather than to a bank or any other intermediary services. Housing co-operatives operate with the support of organizations such as Catalyst Collective, Radical Routes, and Cwmpas.