A group of Christian organisations has announced that they plan to launch a social investment bond to raise £2m to provide affordable housing for church workers in London.

The Missional Housing Bond was initially developed by the Parish of St Paul’s in Shadwell and the Contextual Theology Centre and they are now working with the wider Diocese, and the Eden Network.

Affordable Christian Housing is supporting the initiative and will operate the proposed bond – it is registered with the Financial Services Authority and has charitable status. It plans to launch the bond, on behalf of the partnership, in January 2013 and hopes to be able to purchase the first houses in the summer.

Investments of £5,000 or above from individuals, churches and Christian organisations will be sought once the bond has been issued. It will be in the form of a fixed-term, fixed-interest unsecured loan stock, and investors will be able to invest for up to five years in return for an interest rate of up to 2 per cent.

The organisations hope that being able to provide affordable rented homes for church workers will help them recruit and keep members of staff.

The bond has the full support of the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, who said: “Provision of housing for front-line workers is vital if we are to respond creatively to our calling to share the good news of Jesus Christ in this world city. It is my hope and prayer that you will join us as fellow partners in the gospel by providing financial support for this venture.”

The cover theme for December’s Charity Finance is social investment. Features in the magazine include; a review of progress thus far by Vibeka Mair, analyisis from Luke Fletcher’s predicting it will take 10 years before we know whether it will become a feature of the financial landscape, and Jim Clifford’s explanation of the latest trends.