Land for Housing

Where are the resources for building a better Britain to come from? This paper is a response to John Healey MP’s comprehensive report and consultation Housing for the Many, and specifically the proposal for an English Sovereign Land Trust to help assemble land needed for housing without paying an excessive price for it. The idea stirred up controversy at the time, and there was an invitation to submit other ideas. With growing public awareness of the need to mobilise land for housing, and very limited public resources, the next government needs a robust policy for sharing land value uplift, especially from development that benefits from public investment. Furthermore the benefits of such a policy need to be felt more widely, not just where property values are highest. This paper shows how the proposal can be made to work.