I have come across Perennial, a project for a small (6-10 people) cohousing in London. They want to buy a large house in need of renovation, do the renovation, move in. The problem, like in any cohousing project, is money. If you get it from members, you will end up with only members who have money.
Their solution is loanstock. This means borrowing directly from people and companies, rather than banks or financial intermediaries. Logically, it should be cheaper as it cuts the middleman. To do this, they incorporated as a cooperative and are now trying to get people to give them (interest-bearing) loans. They also have what they call “internal loanstock”, which happens when members of the cooperative lend their own money to the cooperative (we do that too, and call it “intra-group lending”. Or at least I do 
).
Their pitch is: this is a cohousing, collective real estate. It’s going to be around a long time. It’s going to be able to charge rent. So it’s financially quite solid, though illiquid. Also, it is a highly ethical way to use your excess money, since they promise to deploy the house as a space for community etc., again much like The Reef.
Their booklet is clear and elegant, a good source of inspiration for @reef-external . I love their tree-named investor profiles. For example:
Oak
Stable and wise, with mossy limbs, supporting the wider ecosystemOak has ÂŁ120,000 in savings accounts and is interested in moving away from banks with dubious investments. They would like to match what they get from their savings account, so ask for 3% interest. Perennial suggests an amortised return (combining capital and interest) of ÂŁ12,000 a year for 15 years. A total of ÂŁ160,000 is returned.