The
privileges of land ownership are so huge and far-reaching that they are
generally taken as immutable facts of life – something that politics
cannot possibly address. A hearty salute is therefore in order for a
fantastic new report edited by George Monbiot, the brilliant columnist
for The Guardian, and a team of six experts.  The report, “Land for the Many:  Changing the Way our Fundamental Asset is Used, Owned and Governed,” lays out a rigorous, comprehensive plan for democratizing access and use of land. 

“Dig deep enough into many of
the problems this country faces, and you will soon hit land,” writes
Monbiot. “Soaring inequality and exclusion; the massive cost of renting
or buying a decent home; repeated financial crises, sparked by housing
asset bubbles; the collapse of wildlife and ecosystems; the lack of
public amenities – the way land is owned and controlled underlies them
all. Yet it scarcely features in political discussions.” (The six report
coauthors are Robin Grey, Tom Kenny, Laurie Macfarlane, Anna
Powell-Smith, Guy Shrubsole and Beth Stratford.).

The report contains
recommendations to the British Labour Party as it develops a policy
agenda in preparation for the next general election. Given that much of
the world suffers from treating land as a speculative asset, the report
could be considered a template for pursuing similar reforms around the
world. (Monbiot’s column summarizing the report can be found here.)
 

For
me, the report is quite remarkable:  a rigorous, comprehensive set of
proposals for how land could be developed, used, and protected as a
commons.

There are succinct, powerful
sections on making land ownership data more open and available; ways to
foster community-led development and ownership of land (such as a
“community right to buy”); and codifying a citizen’s “right to roam” on
land for civic and cultural purposes. One effective way to curb
speculative development and revive farming and forestry is by creating
community land trusts and curbing tax privileges and subsidies.

The bald financial realities
about land are quite troubling. The report notes that in the UK, “land
values have risen 544% since 1995, far outpacing any growth in real
incomes.” Housing is simply unaffordable for many people. “Two decades
ago, the average working family needed to save for three years to afford
a deposit [downpayment] on a home,” the report notes. “Today, it must
save for 19 years.”

Much of the blame can go to tax
laws and other policies that encourage people to treat homes as
financial assets. This fuels fierce speculation in housing that raises
prices, greatly benefiting the rich (landowners) and impoverishing
renters. Similarly, thanks to speculation and tax subsidies, wealthy
landowners consolidate more land while small farmers are forced to give
up farming.  Fully one-fifth of English farms have folded over the past
ten years. 

Politicians are generally far
too wary to propose solutions to these problems. It would only enrage a
key chief constituency, the wealthy, and alienate some in the middle
class who aspire to flip homes as a path to wealth. But there are in
fact many ways to neutralize the speculative frenzy associated with land
and mutualize the acquisition and control of land to make something
that can benefit everyone.  

Land for the Many recommends
a shift in “macroprudential tools” – financial assessments of systemic
risk – to prod banks to make fewer loans for real estate and more loans
that help productive sectors of the economy. The report also urges
restrictions on lending to buyers intending to rent their
properties.Other healthy ways to make land more accessible and
affordable for all:  a progressive property tax on land; a reduction of
tax exemptions for landowners; and a cap on permissible rent increases
at no more than the rate of wage inflation or the consumer price index,
whichever is lower.

Since profit-driven development
can have catastrophic long-term effects on ecosystems, wildlife, and
future generations, the report calls for the creation of Public
Development Corporations. These entities would have the power to
purchase and develop land in the public interest.

I especially like the idea of
creating a Common Ground Trust, a nonprofit institution to help
prospective homebuyers buy homes. As the request of a buyer, the Trust
would buy the land underneath a house and hold it in trust for the
commons. Since land on average represents 70% of the cost of a house,
the Trust’s acquisition of land under housing would greatly reduce the
upfront downpayments that buyers must make. “In return,” write Monbiot
et al., “the buyers [would] pay a land rent to the Trust.”  Home buyers
could reap any appreciation in value of their house, but land would
effectively be taken off the market and its value would be held in the
commons.

“By bringing land into common
ownership, land rents can be socialized rather than flowing to private
landlords and banks,” the report notes. “Debt-fueled and speculative
demand can be reined in without the risk of an uncontrolled or
destabilizing fall in values.”

Land for the Many is major achievement. It consolidates the progressive case for land reform and explains in straight-forward language how law and policy must change. Of course, the politics of securing this agenda would be a formidable challenge. But given the grotesque inequalities, ecological harms, declines in farming, and unaffordable housing associated with the current regime of land ownership, this conversation is long-overdue.

Originally posted on bollier.org

Header image: mini malist/Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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