Why community land trusts are needed for affordable housing
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Community land trusts (CLT) allow land to be put to community use by ensuring affordability in perpetuity.
This happens by tethering the cost of houses to local income, rather than to the dysfunctional property market. This land can serve the needs of the community, rather than become yet another site for luxury accommodation which prices out those who need it most.
However, as is often pointed out by their critics, it is unlikely that CLTs could function at an economy of scale.
So does this mean that community-led housing is useless? Absolutely not.
Building secure and affordable structures does not on its own constitute housing policy: we also need to build communities.
We must prevent situations in which communities are isolated and segregated, cut off from essential transport links, proximity to opportunity, and access to green space.
Community-led housing provides a model in which community need, not profit, is placed at the centre of planning, and needs beyond simply the provision of shelter are addressed.
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