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Community Land Trust - making land available to everyone

We're a young family with 2 young daughters. I work full time as an engineer and get a fair pay. My wife works part time in daycare, mainly to be there for our children, especially in their early years.
First we looked to buy a house here (Kerikeri): no go, unless we work both full time for a killing mortgage.
Then we started looking for a section where we would live in a Yurt for a couple of years, until building a more solid house: no go, unless we move way out of town, the majority of the land is 'protected' by covenants, which basically selects for wealthy people (or people in big debt) who can build a villa from day one.

A lot of our friends around here are in the same boat. We're just looking for a place to live but all is fenced off and out of reach. Most of that land is doing nothing, just sitting there with endless grass on top, waiting for big money to be sold.

There must be something wrong here. Shouldn't we take care of the Land? Instead of calling it dirt and selling it at the best price, regardless of the intentions of the new owner?


I was thinking about buying a bigger piece of land with a group of people, to keep costs down, keeping the land in one piece and leasing it to the people who live on it. I was surfing the internet to find some more supporting information.
Apparently this idea (in a much better organized way than mine) exists for more than 40 years now and is widely and successfully tried out!

Community Land Trusts are growing quickly in America and the UK, and are based on the following principles:
- land is owned by the Trust, never divided and leased to the families who live there
- the house and other structures put onto the land are owned by the individual families
- continuous affordability: each family can sell it's house but at a controlled price, mostly linked to local wages
- shared governance: 3 groups comprise the Trust representatives: families who live on the land, people from the surrounding community and local government or other stakeholders
- continuous expansion: the Trust commits itself to continuously try to expand the model and acquire new land

I really like this idea, it has a beautiful vision AND it is practical.

What are the pros and cons to try to build this locally ?

Tags: CLT, affordable, community, house, housing, land, lease, loans, mortgage, price, More…trust

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Permalink Reply by Bob Corker on September 30, 2008 at 21:02
Hi Geert,
I'm also very interested in community land trusts. Our family is planning to develop one soon, I'll be posting our ideas on the Koanga Institute website in a couple of weeks. (www.koanga.org.nz) Look forward to discussing it with you further. If you are interested.
Regards
Bob Corker
Permalink Reply by Geert Dierick on October 1, 2008 at 8:06
Hi Bob,

great news !
I would be very interested to know what you're planning to do?
Do you follow the model from the US and UK community land trusts or do you have an own version?

A friend of mine is currently checking the possibilities in local council here.

I believe there would be a great support and interest over here to get one going. There is still plenty of rural production land close to town here (Kerikeri - Waipapa). Major problem will be finance. Most of the banks will be reluctant to give loans for land owned by a trust. Also loans for the individual houses will be a problem, since the land-house package can't be put as collateral.

Regards,
Geert
Permalink Reply by Ruth Cohen on October 1, 2008 at 14:11
Hi Greert...I'm thinking the same thing but in Taranaki, would love to hear how this develops, I just started my own business and my partner works part time, we have a 6 month old. We have enough for a deposit but have no intention of going into debt to a bank and working full time to pay it off. Wondering if anyone in the Taranaki is interested. We never truly own land anyway, only care for it, so why pretend we do and get into debt to banks in the process?
Ruth
Permalink Reply by Deirdre Kent on October 1, 2008 at 19:05
And at the other end of the scale, my husband and I are living on a small holding of three and a half acres and are now getting too old to do all the work and develop it as it should be developed for a permaculture place. The market has dropped dramatically but we have just put it on the market yesterday.

Lots of young permaculture graduates just lust for this property because it is a tree cropper's dream. But they can't afford it. For the last three and half years we have been managing it organically and the soil is greatly improving.

Although between us we have 13 kids and heaven knows how many grandchildren, none of them are contemplating moving to Otaki and laugh at the suggestion. We actually bought the place because we had learnt about peak oil and were aware that land and food and firewood are going to be the currencies of the future.

So after contemplating many other options we finally have put the place on the market, damn it. See this blogspot for the last three years stories.

Sad but true. We would love to keep living here but my husband turned 82 the other day and we tend to get a bit tired these days.
Permalink Reply by Geert Dierick on October 1, 2008 at 21:12
A crazy world indeed.

I think there are a lot of people also in Deirdre's situation. Owning a piece of land that gets to big to maintain or finance (if they're still on a mortgage). They hate to leave it or chop it in pieces but are more or less forced.

I've been reading your book, Deirdre (great reading by the way), and I agree completely with the concept that land is no commodity to circulate on the market, but a basic right of all people, and all livings things.
I got specifically interested in the ideas of Silvio Gessell (seemed a very bright chap) and the Land Value Taxation movement.

About the Community Land Trust. This is a tried concept and it is fairly rapidly growing in the US. One of these trusts won the UN World Habitat award in July 2008.

I did some preliminary checks in the Far North DC district plan: rural production zoning (still quite a lot available closeby) normally allows 1 house every 12 ha. However, with a resource consent application, you can push this down to 1 house every 2 ha. Typical price for rural production is around 10-15,000$/acre, so about 40-70,000$ for the land per house. Big difference with a section of an acre for typically 175-200,000$.

The beauty is that nobody wants this land because it's too big. But this is just what a trust seeks: a big piece of land in one piece. Land that is not a paddock with a fence but real land with trees, native bush, open space, water. Land with a soul, land to be proud of to live upon.

The two main objectives of the rural production zone (from the district plan) seem to be written for a Community Land Trust:
- To promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources in the Rural Production Zone.
- To enable the efficient use and development of the Rural Production Zone in a way that enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic, and cultural well being and for their health and safety.

It shouldn't be a hard case to get a resource consent approved, I would say?

The main problem is finance, where to find the capital or loan for the land purchase. And where can the people find the loans to build their house.

But I'm fairly confident there must be a solution to this one. I think a lot of people in every community will be very supportive of this concept, they might be willing to invest in the idea?

Regards,
Geert
Permalink Reply by Geert Dierick on October 1, 2008 at 21:16
I made a short introduction in Community Land Trusts a few weeks ago, from information I've gathered so far from the web.

Might come handy, see attached.

Cheers,
Geert
Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Deirdre Kent on October 1, 2008 at 22:38
Glad you are enjoying my book Geert and hope to meet you up north soon? I am waiting for Bob Corker's posting on the koanga site because I know he has put a lot of thought and work into this. There must be a way to marry young people with health and enthusiasm with older people with capital and knowhow. Councils will have to support it. Perhaps more older people with money going in and lending to those with less, sort of rotating building society...Dunno.
Permalink Reply by Bob Corker on October 22, 2008 at 21:16
Hi Geert, was hoping to get our ideas up on the Koanga Institute website by now, however we are in the process of redesigning that, so it might be a bit longer. In the meantime we have started up our own private site. check it out on www.changeofheart.co.nz

We gave a talk at the Ecoshow which was our first public presentation of our vision. Since then we've had one couple come and discuss the idea and they are keen to be involved. Plus we've had another couple invite us to consider setting up a Community Land Trust on their land. This weekend we've got another couple coming to talk to us, so we've certainly had some positive response.
We are busy down here (Eastern Bay of Plenty) until early December. We will be in Katikati on the 10th December, and will possibly organise another presentation up Auckland or Northland way if there is enough interest.

regards
Bob Corker
Permalink Reply by Deirdre Kent on October 23, 2008 at 6:41
Thanks Geert and Bob. Yes I was at Bob's session at the Ecoshow. Our property is 4km from Otaki so it isn't rural really or isolated. It is only 1.4 ha and has bush, fruit and nut trees and firewood trees. Can only officially take on 50 sq m house extra and this has to be for a family member and transportable.

Geert glad you like the ideas in my book on land influenced by Henry George and on money from Gesell. Apparently the Georgists and monetary reformer used to see the other as an 'enemy' but I was heartened to meet a guy at my Kerikeri meeting called Rod Land who wants to start a political party with both of these as platforms. Not sure if he has got as far as Gesell but at least he understands money and is well in touch with the active Auckland Georgist, Bob someone.
Permalink Reply by Geert Dierick on October 23, 2008 at 18:06
Hi Deirdre

Quite some coincidence, Rod Land is coming to give us a hand at the Waitangi event this weekend. I'll certainly talk to him about the land ideas.
I've found some people over here who are also interested in the land trust. We're having a meeting hopefully next week. We might organize an information evening with the Transition Town.
Permalink Reply by Deirdre Kent on October 24, 2008 at 5:35
Yes I remembered the name of the Auckland Georgist. Robert Keall, Bob Keall. He has a wealth of material on land taxes and has thought out how to apply it in NZ. He doesn't have a website. Rod is in touch with him. His material should be put on the web as he is internationally respected in the Georgist movement. This is off the topic of Community Land Trusts but the principle is the same - nobody should make profit from appreciation of bare land.
Permalink Reply by Geert Dierick on October 24, 2008 at 21:39
Hi Bob

We're gathering a few people here to discuss the idea.
I still have quite some questions of my own. A lot of them revolve around the financial and legal part.
Inge from our TT group saw an interesting presentation in Taupo about GEK. I don't know where it stands for but the basic idea is that a group of people pays a regular contribution into a building fund to finance the building of a new house for one of the families. This way, they can avoid lending and dramatically reduce building costs. Families who's house has already been build keep on contributing to the fund until the whole group has a roof above their head.
This could be one of the tools to keep the community land trust affordable and keep it accessible to as many people as possible.

I would be really interested to have a talk with you around some of these issues. Do you have Skype ?
If you would be coming up North, please give me a call. I'm playing with the idea of organizing an information evening around CLTs which might be hosted by our Transition Town.

Regards,
Geert

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